By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Determined to return to the podium, the Petro Gazz management has signed Japanese tactician Koji Tsuzurabara to handle the Angels for the upcoming 2024 Premier Volleyball League season.
The announcement came Sunday night, Jan. 21, and a few days after the team also disclosed the recruitment of Hawaii standout Brooke van Sickle to banner the crew.
“Our new driving force and guiding light has come aboard! We are ready and excited as you steer us to new heights as our head coach. Welcome to the Angels family, coach Koji Tsuzurabara!” the team posted on social media.
Tsuzurabara previously coached the Under-19 team of Kinh Bac Bac Ninh, a Vietnamese squad that competed in the 2023 PVL Invitational Conference.
He will fill in the shoes of coach Timmy Sto. Tomas.
Apart from his coaching stint with Kinh Bac Bac Ninh, Tsuzubara has also worked with teams like Oita Miyoshi and Hitachi in Japan, Hamilton in New Zealand, and Al-Hedayah in Saudi Arabia.
He has also managed the U20 and U21 national teams of Thailand, as well as squads from Malaysia, Myanmar and Chinese Taipei.
Tsuzurabara is the second foreign coach in the league after Nxled tapped Japanese coach Taka Minowa last year.
This would be the sixth coaching change for the Angels in two years. Previous mentors include Jerry Yee, Arnold Laniog, Rald Ricafort and Oliver Almadro.
The squad seeks to eclipse its previous finish in the last two conferences where they settled for ninth in the Invitationals and sixth in the Second All-Filipino Conference that concluded last month.
They gun for a third title after ruling the 2019 and 2022 Reinforced Conference.
