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Japan pins Asian Games medals on runners
Japan is pinning its hopes of leaving the Asian Games with 50 gold medals on its track stars â and the marathon could be their biggest prize
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apan is pinning its hopes of leaving the Asian Games with 50 gold medals on its track stars ' and the marathon could be their biggest prize.
For Yuki Kawauchi, Japan's top man in the race, there is already a lot riding on Friday's main event, which will be run on a hilly course through the streets of Incheon. If he wins, he will automatically earn a berth in the 2015 world championships in Beijing. A finish in the top eight ahead of his teammate will be enough to send him to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
"I had a lot of poor performances in training but my condition has been steadily improving since August," Kawauchi said on Tuesday. "I came here for the gold."
To get it, he will have to outrun Shumi Dechasa, an Ethiopian runner who competes for Bahrain. Dechasa won the Hamburg Marathon in May with a personal-best 2:06:43. Kawauchi's best is 2:08:14.
Ryoko Kizaki is a gold-medal favorite in the women's race.
Japan, which is fielding one of the largest teams in Incheon, had 36 golds midway through Tuesday's events.
As expected, superstar Saori Yoshida won an unprecedented fourth consecutive Asian Games gold in the 55-kilogram division in women's wrestling, and the Japan women are headed into the women's football final against North Korea in another marquee event likely to generate a lot of excitement back home.
But Japan had a mixed performance in the pool.
The Japanese won 12 golds there ' 10 behind the Chinese. Though strong in the heats, Japanese swimmers failed to come through in the finals on the last day of the event, and were repeatedly relegated to second and third place. Losing their Asian Games title to China in the men's 4x100 medley relay was an especially bitter end to the competition.
To make matters worse, disputes over history and ownership of Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea prompted Chinese fans to boo Japanese swimmers, while China's social media buzzed with anti-Japanese commentary.
And, for the first time in their Asian Games history, the Japanese decided to expel a former gold medalist from their swimming squad after he confessed to stealing a South Korean photojournalist's camera.
Naoya Tomita, who failed to medal in Incheon, has been fined by authorities and is awaiting permission to get a flight out of the country ' which Japanese officials say he will have to pay for himself. (**)
