Former Japan international center Noriko Hamaguchi will come out of retirement and play for Aisin AW of the second-tier women's domestic basketball league next season, the club said Wednesday.
Hamaguchi, who announced her retirement after playing for Japan at the Athens Olympics last summer, has agreed with Aisin AW on a contract under which the 31-year-old will serve as an assistant coach-cum-player.
Hamaguchi made her debut for the Japanese women's national team in 1992 as a high school student and twice played in the Olympics -- at the 1996 Atlanta Games and in Athens.