Jakarta: Japan will go toe-to-toe with China at the 18th Asian Games, with the hope that sparring with the continent’s most dominant sporting nation will boost their bid for a record medal haul in their home Olympics in 2020, their delegation chief said here Saturday.
Japan topped the medal standings in the first Asian Games in 1951 and continued their dominance until the 1982 New Delhi Games where China took over as the new leaders.
It will need a miracle to deny China a 10th successive Asiad at the top of the medal tally though Japan will mount stiff competition in swimming, gymnastics, track and field, and table tennis.
“Not only these four sports, in various other disciplines China are still number one in Asia,” Yasuhiro Yamashita, who heads Japan’s 1000-plus contingent, including 752 athletes, told a news conference, here.
“I’m looking forward to our athletes challenging China and performing well. If China and Japan perform at a high level, it will help bring up the Asian total sporting performance. I strongly believe our strong performance here will be beneficial for us in two years’ time in Tokyo,” added Yamashita
Traditionally China and Japan have been great competitors. If we can compete at high levels it will be better for Asia as well as Japan in the Tokyo Olympics
Yasuhiro Yamashita – Head, Japanese delegation
Japan have set themselves a 30-gold target for the 2020 Olympics at home, which they believe will be enough to finish third in the medal standings.
But then how do they achieve that tally. Japan need to do well in disciplines that have served them well and make the most of the new events, said Yamashita, a former Olympic champion Judoka.
“We traditionally had high performances in judo, wrestling, gymnastics and swimming. Looking back, we (also) find a good foundation of team performance in badminton, table tennis, fencing, sailing and weightlifting,” Yamashita pointed out.
“On top of that, in Tokyo, there will be new events like karate, softball, baseball, surfing and sport climbing and in those sports we have very good athletes,” he added.