Games-Steady Japan seek China inspiration to close gap in home Asiad

By Irene Wang

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Japan have been “progressing steadily” near the halfway stage of the Asian Games, the host’s head of mission said, but they are also drawing inspiration from behemoth China, who breached the 100-gold mark at the Aichi-Nagoya Games on Saturday.

The hosts remain on course to surpass their haul of 52 golds from the Hangzhou Games three years ago, even as China continue to set the benchmark with characteristic dominance.

“At this halfway point, we’ve been told by our strategy team that we are progressing steadily in terms of the number of medals, including gold medals, as well as our overall medal count,” Japan’s Kosei Inoue told a press conference.

“More than the medal count, what makes me really happy is that each athlete and each team set a goal of producing their best performance and then achieved it.

“We’ll keep supporting them so they can reach the goals they set for these Games and perform in a way that carries them forward to the next step.”

With an eye on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Japan aim to maximise athlete performance in the second half of the Games, including by learning directly from China’s success.

“I’ve seen the Chinese team excel and perform brilliantly,” former Olympic judo champion Inoue said.

“For team Japan, that is a big stimulus and a learning opportunity, both for these Games and for the future of sport.

“There is a lot we can learn from them. We want to keep growing and keep working hard to catch up, even if only little by little.”

(Writing by Amlan Chakraborty in Nagoya; Editing by William Mallard)

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