Meanwhile, young talents took part in the Junior Olympic Cup water polo competition at the Chiba-ken International Swimming Pool. The Yamagata Water Polo Club, Kyoto Tosuikai, Kawaguchi Swimming School, Amatias and Shumei Eiko High School were the best teams in their respective group. More than 1'100 junior water polo players competed in the event, started on March 26. They also had the opportunity to learn about sport values, such as sportsmanship. The MVP (most valuable player) of the water polo competition was Shuma Kawamoto. The great number of participants indicated that water polo is getting more and more popular in Japan.
At senior level, the Japan Olympic Trials for swimming start April 2, 2012 for six days. Many elite swimmers - Kosuke Kitajima, Takeshi Matsuda, Ryosuke Irie, Naoya Tomita, Yuya Horihata, Aya Terakawa, Satomi Suzuki, Shiho Sakai, Natsumi Hoshi and Haruka Ueda - will attend the event in order to secure their ticket for the 2012 London Olympic Games.