[back]

"We regard the Asian Games as an important step toward the Beijing Olympics. If we can't win in Asia, we cannot fight in Beijing ," Japanese Olympic Committee vice president Tsutomu Hayashi said.

Hayashi will head the Japanese delegation to Doha including 628 athletes, 30 fewer than those who took part in the 2002 Asiad in the South Korean port of Busan .

"We have cut our size because our aim is to win medals," he said. "We want to put our gold-medal target above 50. We wish to overtake South Korea and climb to second place." In Busan , Japan grabbed 44 gold medals, far behind China at 150 and South Korea at 96.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Japan glittered with a record 37 medals, 16 of them golden, inspired by a new wave of women athletes and led by a record haul of eight titles in their own combat sport of judo.

In Athens , they fared better than South Korea , who took 30 medals including nine golds. But they were a world apart from China who finished second behind the United States in the overall medal standings with 63, 32 of them gold.

Japan, after their long reign as No.1 in the Asian Games since the first edition in 1951, were caught up by China in 1982 and then overtaken by South Korea in 1986 in the gold medal standings.

Japan narrowly edged South Korea 64-63 for second spot at home in Hiroshima in 1994 but ended third again in 1998 and 2002.

Japan expects good results particularly in judo, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming and athletics, according to Tomiaki Fukuda, director of the committee's competitive development.

In athletics, Japan grabbed only two titles in Busan and hope to go for at least four in Doha . Olympic hammer throw champion Koji Murofushi is seen as a shoo-in to win a third straight Asiad title on his path to emulate his father Shigenobu's five-straight titles in the same event.

Shingo Suetsugu is also raring to repeat his victory in the 200-metre sprint.

Men's pole vaulter Daichi Sawano, women's long jumper Kumiko Ikeda and Kayoko Fukushi in the women's 5,000 and 10,000 metres are also seen in medal contention. Fukushi won the two long-distance silvers in Busan. Japan will field a host of Olympic and world champions in judo and women's wrestling. (AFP)

[back]