The Japanese delegation put its gold medal hope mainly in
skating events at the 6th Asian Winter Games, said Toshiaki
Murasato, Chef-de-Mission of the Japanese delegation which arrived
in Changchun on Thursday.
"We aim at 10 to 15 gold medals, and due to the cancel of some
snow events, I believe most of the golds will come from speed
skating and figure skating, as we have fielded the best skating
team here."
The first batch of the Japanese delegation, which has 126
members with athletes from speed skating, short track speed
skating, ice hockey, biathlon, curling and snowboard, arrived at
Changchun at 18:30.
There are three world class skaters in men's 500m speed skating
in the team, including Yuya Oikawa, who finished fourth in men's
500m speed skating in Turin Olympic Games, Hiroyasu Shimizu,
champion of the Nagano Olympics in 1998 and Joji Kato, the world
record holder.
Oikawa said he had won twice in the 100m events in his two
attempts in World Cup events held in China and hoped to continue
his good luck at the 6th Asian Winter Games.
The figure skating team, which will arrive at Changchun on
January 30, also bears the hope of gold medals, especially the
women's singles skaters, despite of the absence of the talented
teenager Maomai Asada. Fumie Suguri, fourth of the Turin Olympics
is already too much for the other Asian competitors.
In contrast, Murasato did not put much hope in the short track
events.
"China, South Korea and Japan were almost shoulder by shoulder
in the short track speed skating four years ago, but now we have
been left behind," said Murasato. "This is a good chance for us to
know how large the gap is now."
The Japanese team suffered a bitter failure at the Turin
Olympics as they won just one gold from the women's singles figure
skating.
"This is a good chance for us to turn the direction of the
winter sports. The level of the competitions means more than the
medals for us," said Murasato.?
(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)