Rui Hachimura must be the most popular name in the basketball world of Japan these days as the owner of this name, the 21-year-old forward of Gonzaga University, was selected by the Washington Wizards with the No.9 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Hachimura made history by becoming the first Japan-born player to be drafted by an NBA team and the No.9 pick was the third-highest of all Asian players, only after China's Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.

"I feel great, so great. The hard work is paying off, and I am so excited to see how things are going. Going to the NBA is a dream come true, and I am so excited for this summer, too," said Hachimura.

The 21-year-old wanted to make his country prouder of him by helping Japan do well at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China. Having missed the past two events, Japan made it back, partly thanks to efforts of Hachimura. Unfortunately, they are in Group E with Turkey, the Czech Republic and the USA.

Hachimura knows that compared with the three opponents, Japan is definitely the underdog of the group, but he does not want to give up and aims to put his country "back on the world's basketball map."

"Czech Republic and Turkey are very good teams that have players in the best leagues in the world, and Team USA…what else do we have to say about them? Playing against guys such as Damian Lillard, James Harden, Anthony Davis, oh man…it’s going to be so great. It’s going to be tough, but we are going to compete and try to show what we are made of," said Hachimura.

When asked about Japan's goal for the World Cup, Hachimura was neither haughty nor humble: "We need to play every game of the first round with a lot of intensity and try to make it to the next one," he shared. "We aren’t among the teams that are favorites to go to the next round, but we are going to try to fight against some predictions."

Though basketball has never been the favorite of the Japanese, Hachimura saw the World Cup as an opportunity to grow the basketball culture in his country, which could help more of those interested in the sport join him in the NBA in the future. Meanwhile, since there is only a one-hour time difference between China and Japan, fans can watch the World Cup at the golden time at night instead of staying up later and getting up early.

Japan will meet with their first opponent, Turkey, on Sept. 1 in Shanghai before taking on the Czech Republic on Sept. 3 and the USA on Sept. 5.