Former Japan captain Takuro Miuchi on Tuesday announced his retirement from rugby on the advice of doctors after suffering an eye injury.
The 39-year-old, who captained Japan at the 2003 and 2007 World Cups, told a news conference in Osaka that after undergoing surgery to both eyes he had no option but to bow out of the sport after he was warned he could lose his eyesight.
"People around me say I could have played until I'm 50," said Miuchi, who won 48 caps for Japan's "Brave Blossoms".
"But it appears I have a rare medical condition that not even boxers get. If it was a different injury I'd have the option of doing the rehab and coming back but I have been able to put this down to fate pretty easily."
The bulldozing number eight is set to stay on at his club side, NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes, as a forward coach next season. He began his career with the NEC Green Rockets, where he won a Top League championship in 2002-03.
He was surprisingly stripped of the Japan captaincy by former coach Jean-Pierre Elissalde in 2006.
However, the Frenchman's successor, former All Black John Kirwan, handed Miuchi back the skipper's armband after taking charge a year later for the World Cup and the 2008 Pacific Nations Cup.
Source: AFP