Ayaka Toko

Ayaka Hitosato née Toko (Japanese: 人里亜矢可 née 床, Hepburn: Hitozato Ayaka née Toko, born 22 August 1994) is a Japanese ice hockey player and member of the Japanese national team, currently playing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Linköping HC Dam. She previously served as captain of the Seibu Princess Rabbits of the Women's Japan Ice Hockey League (WJIHL) and All-Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship.

Ayaka Toko
床 亜矢可
Toko in 2017
Born (1994-08-22) 22 August 1994
Higashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan
Height 1.61 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight 60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Position Defense
Shoots Right
SDHL team
Former teams		 Linköping HC
Seibu Princess Rabbits
Daishin
National team  Japan
Playing career 2011–present
Medal record
Asian Winter Games
Gold medal – first place2017 SapporoIce hockey
Universiade
Bronze medal – third place2015 GranadaIce hockey

International play

Toko's first foray into international competition was as a member of the Japanese national under-18 ice hockey team at the 2010 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship, where she notched three assists in five games. At the 2011 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship, she served as an alternate captain and scored her first world championship goal.

Toko made her debut with the senior Japanese national ice hockey team in February 2013 at the final qualification for the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Later that same year, she participated in the 2013 IIHF Women's World Championship Division I.

She participated at the 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship.[1] She competed at both the 2014 and the 2018 Winter Olympics.[2]

Personal life

Her father, Yasunori, represented Japan at the 1991 Men's Ice Hockey World Championship – Group B in Yugoslavia. Her younger siblings are also ice hockey players. Her younger sister, Haruka (born 1997), is a two-time Olympian with the Japanese national ice hockey team and, as of the 2022–23 season, also plays with Linköping HC in the SDHL. Her younger brother, Yutaka (born 2003), has represented Japan with the Japan men's national junior ice hockey team and in the men's ice hockey tournament at the 2023 Winter World University Games.[3]

After graduating from Hosei University in 2016, Toko joined All Nippon Airways through the Top Athlete Employment Support Navigation (AthNavi) program of the Japanese Olympic Committee.[4]

Toko married ice hockey forward Shigeki Hitosato (人里 茂樹) in June 2022. The 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship was her first major tournament played using her married name.

References
  1. "2015 IIHF World Championship roster" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  2. "Ayako Toko". PyeongChang2018.com. PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  3. "床亜矢可 両親の夢を同時にかなえた孝行娘 母「誇りに思う」 - スポニチ Sponichi Annex スポーツ". スポニチ Sponichi Annex (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  4. "JOCトップアスリ−ト就職支援ナビゲ−ション「アスナビ」を通じた採用内定のお知らせ". All Nippon Airways (Press release) (in Japanese). 3 October 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
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