A full-time engineer, Japan Kurumi Ota left cricket for six years to work on a billion-dollar project

Dubai: For Kurumi Ota, representing Japan at the Asian Games has required balancing international cricket with a demanding career in engineering.

The 39-year-old works full-time as a systems engineer at SOMPO, making time for training and international tournaments difficult. Her employer allows her roughly two weeks off twice a year to compete internationally as per Sportstar, but there was a period when even that was not possible.

Ota stepped away from cricket for seven years between 2017 and 2023, not because of injury or poor form, but because of work.

She had joined one of Japan’s largest core-system modernisation projects, a 10-year undertaking valued at several billion dollars. The scale of the project demanded her full attention. Cricket had to take a back seat until the system was successfully released.

Ota has since returned to Japan’s national team and is now part of the squad preparing for the 2026 Asian Games. She previously represented Japan at the 2014 Asian Games, where the team was eliminated by China in the quarterfinals.

Her story reflects the reality for many Japanese cricketers. The women’s national squad includes players from clubs, universities and teams overseas, with cricket still operating on a largely part-time basis with only 14 cricket clubs across the country.

That makes the Asian Games an important opportunity for Japan to grow the sport at home. Japan will face defending champions India in the quarterfinal on September 18, with India arriving after winning the Women’s Asia Cup.