Sekita, Kliuka and Ogawa join Suntory Sunbirds

Reigning Japanese champions, Emperor’s Cup winners and AVC Champions League bronze medalists Suntory Sunbirds Osaka announced three new additions to their roster for the next season in the men’s Daido Life SV.League. Japan’s international setter Masahiro Sekita, libero Tomohiro Ogawa and Russian star outside hitter Egor Kliuka are joining Ran Takahashi, Dmitriy Muserskiy, Alain De Armas, Taishi Onodera and the rest of their teammates that have been confirmed on the squad for 2025-2026.

31-year-old playmaker Masahiro Sekita is transferring to Suntory Sunbirds and taking over the post from departing Masaki Oya after spending three seasons with JTEKT Stings Aichi. With Aichi, he earned SV.League silver last season and the Emperor’s Cup trophy in 2022-2023. The season before that, he was a member of Poland’s Cuprum Lubin, the only foreign club he has competed for so far in his career. With one of his previous Japanese clubs, Panasonic Panthers Hirakata, Sekita celebrated the national title and the Emperor’s Cup crown in 2017-2018, and a league silver in 2015-2016. He has been an important part of the Japanese national team since 2016 and defended his country’s colors at two Olympic Games. He helped Japan earn Volleyball Nations League silver in 2024 and bronze in 2023, and triumph as continental Asian champions in 2023.

29-year-old Russian outside Egor Kliuka is expected to fill one of the vacancies opened by the departures of Polish star Aleksander Sliwka and of Kenya Fujinaka. He arrives in Osaka after five seasons with Russia’s Zenit Saint Petersburg, the second club of his professional career, after Fakel Novy Urengoy. In addition to several domestic podiums in Russia, Kliuka has collected a 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship bronze, a 2021 CEV Cup silver, a 2017 CEV Challenge Cup gold and a 2016 Challenge Cup silver. As a member of the Russian national team, Kliuka picked up two VNL trophies (2018 and 2019), one CEV European Championship title (2017) and silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where he was named on the Dream Team of the tournament.

28-year-old libero Tomohiro Ogawa also arrives at Suntory Sunbirds as an inaugural SV.League silver medalist with JTEKT Stings Aichi, where he played last season. Before that, he spent the first six seasons of his professional career at Wolfdogs Nagoya and collected one gold, two silvers and one bronze in the Japanese league, in addition to the Emperor’s Cup trophy in 2021-2022. Ogawa has been part of the Japanese national team since 2021 and also contributed to the VNL podiums in 2023 and 2024 and the continental crown in 2023.

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