Japan all set to dominate the Asian Athletics Championships at the Kobe Universiade Stadium
Japan, who is going to host the 19th Asian Athletics Championships after a gap of about 12 years, is expecting to mark their dominance over the prestigious athletics event that is being organised just ahead of the IAAF World Athletics Championships
in the Korean city of Daegu.
The Asian Athletics Championships will commence on July 7-10 at the Kobe Universiade Stadium. Japan got the privilege of hosting this continental championship first in 1998.
As it has always been, the arch rivals of the event will be China and Japan as athletes from both countries will be bent upon defeating each other on the field. Interestingly, Japan has failed to put up a formidable contingent for the event, yet, amid the
participation of some their top athletes, the country is expected to finish respectably on the tally table. However, a performance that the hosting country had laid in the 2005’s event in Korea and the one hosted by China in Guangzhou last year, will have
thinner chances to materialise this year.
For Japan, who will be badly missing some of their key performers in the event, the good news comes with the fact that the contingent representing China in the event will not be as emphatic as it has always been, either. In absence of the top dominating
participants of the event, China will certainly lose their strength to overdo the rivals.
The Chinese contingent, along with spectators will be missing the formidable performer, Liu Xiang. In order to get himself well prepared for the World Championships at Daegu, the 110m hurdler has decided to not to appear at the contest in Kobe.
In the last edition of the event hosted by the Asian Athletics Association, it was China who dominated the tally table by winning 18 gold medals. However, this was not absolute supremacy with regards to the fact that China was hosting the event. Still, Japan,
who had managed to earn 12 gold medals, was not at all a bad finisher in the event. Now, enjoying the facility of competing at home will definitely help local athletes to do much better on the field against their traditional rivals.
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