Japanese sitting volleyball player Asano Kumi died just 20 days before realizing her dream of competing at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

But that has not stopped her coach and teammates from keeping her spirit always with them.

On Sunday, in their first match against the Dutch, the Japanese team took Kumi's picture and sports jerseys onto the court so that, in the words of head coach Yoshihisa Mano, "Kumi could play with them".

"It was my idea to bring Kumi's picture and jerseys to Beijing," Mano told China Daily yesterday in an exclusive interview.

A keen volleyball player as a young girl, Kumi lost the lower part of her left leg to bone cancer when she was a third-year middle school student.

After coming to terms with the loss, Kumi switched her attention to sitting volleyball two years ago and was selected for the national Paralympic team in May.

The 21-year-old always had a positive outlook and was very brave whatever challenges she faced, Mano said.

"Kumi always had a smile on her face in training, and she was a really good server," he said.

"She never succumbed to any difficulty."

But despite her strength of spirit, the young woman finally did succumb to a fatal septic shock.

Kumi was receiving anticancer drug treatments to slow the growth of a tumor in her chest when she fell sick in late July. She died on Aug 12.

The suddenness of her death was a huge shock for the team, Mano said.

"Everybody was extremely sad because it was so close to the Paralympics," he said, adding that Kumi had been working really hard in preparation for the Games.

This is the first time a Japanese women's sitting volleyball team has taken part in the Paralympics, Mano said.

Knowing how much the Games meant to Kumi, Mano said he wanted to keep her as part of the team, so did not apply to the organizers to bring in a new player.

He even reserved her favored No 12 jersey.

"I told my players we should bring her pictures and jerseys to Beijing," he said.

The photograph they decided on was one of Kumi on her 20th birthday.

When the team is not competing, Mano's picture is kept in the team's apartment at the Paralympic village.

"We want her to live with us," Mano said.