SEATTLE (2015 FIBA Asia Women's Championship) - Japan will be able to call upon the services of WNBA star Ramu Tokashiki when they defend their title at the FIBA Asia Women's Championship later this month (29 August-5 September).

Currently with the Seattle Storm, Tokashiki is being released from her WNBA duties to focus on helping her country defend the title they famously won in Bangkok two years ago which ended a title drought that had lasted more than four decades.

The 24-year-old was the leading scorer at the 2013 edition of the event in Thailand and added to her team's most memorable moment by also taking the coveted MVP accolade.

Tokashiki has certainly made a splash during her rookie WNBA campaign and while she continues trying to break down the language barriers, her athleticism and work ethic has already translated into a new army of admirers.

Only the third Japanese player to have played in the WNBA, the Kyoto native has averaged 8.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per game so far in her rookie campaign.

Now she will concentrate on Japan successfully defending their continental crown when the action gets underway in Wuhan, China, as well as attempting to catapult her country back to the Olympic Games where they haven't featured since 2004.

FIBA