Japan aims high at Asian Games

TOKYO (AP): With the Tokyo Olympics less than two years away, Japanese athletes will be using the Asian Games to build confidence as they prepare to host the world on sport's biggest stage.

The Japanese Olympic Committee has set an ambitious target of 30 gold medals for the 2020 Olympics, almost double the national record.

The most gold medals Japan has won at the Summer Olympics is 16 in 1964 at Tokyo and in 2004 at Athens. At the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, Japan claimed the sixth-highest number of gold medals with 12.

The Asian Games, being held August 18 to September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang, are an important stepping stone.

While Japan can always count on medals in traditional Japanese sports such as judo and karate, the Asian Games will give the country a chance to gauge preparations in sports they have not always dominated.

Nowhere is this more evident than in athletics where Japan's 4x100m relay team has set its sights on the gold medal at Tokyo in 2020.

Considering the team of Yoshihide Kiryu, Aska Cambridge, Shota Iizuka and Ryota Yamagata won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics, that is no longer a far-fetched dream. At the Asian Games, they will face a stern challenge from China's 4x100m relay, silver medallists at the 2015 world championships and another Olympic medal contender.

"We're aiming for the gold medal in Indonesia," Yamagata said at a recent training camp. "We want to use the Asian Games to build confidence toward next year's world championships and the Olympics in 2020."

Cambridge, whose father is Jamaican and mother is Japanese, competes in both the 100 and 200m sprints as well and is one of the rising stars in Japanese athletics.

"We can feel the excitement building," Cambridge said. "There are a lot of runners in the 100m (at the Asian Games) who can run under 10 seconds so I expect it will be a very tough race."

Five new sports have been added to the programme for Tokyo 2020, and the Asian Games will feature several of those.

Japan has established itself as a global powerhouse in bouldering, one of three disciplines in sport climbing, and will be aiming to dominate the event in Indonesia.

The nation placed third overall at the 2014 Asian Games behind China and South Korea and is aiming to increase its medal haul from Incheon to Indonesia.