Kitajima disappointed with Asiad performance
Star swimmer Kosuke Kitajima was not happy with his performance in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
The two-time double Olympic breaststroke champion failed to win an individual medal in the quadrennial multi-sport meet.
Kitajima finished a disappointing fourth in the 50m and 100m breaststroke events and was forced to withdraw from the 200m race due to shoulder pains.
He was also replaced by Ryo Tateishi in the medley relay final, which will be held tonight.
"I'm disappointed. I wanted to swim the 200, but for now it's just hard to give the kind of performance that could give my team momentum," Kitajima told
Kyodo News.
The 28-year-old also revealed that the Guangzhou meet will be his last competition for the year.
"It is my fault that I couldn't prepare well for the Asian Games," he said.
"I won't swim in any event the rest of the year. I'll take good care of my body and try to be fit by the end of the year so that I can train hard again."
Kitajima said his disappointing stint in Guangzhou prompted him to focus more on his conditioning before taking part in future international meets.
"I felt pain after the Pan Pacific Championships (in August) but went on to compete because I wanted to contribute to my team at the Asian Games. Now I might have to reconsider my conditioning programme through consulting with trainers in Japan," he said.
Although he took a break after successfully defending his 100m and 200m titles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kitajima is still one of the favourites to win gold in the China meet.
But it was not the case in Guangzhou as the fancied Japanese hardly made his presence felt in the competition.
In his first event, Kitajima only finished fourth in the 50m breaststroke with a time of 28.15 seconds. China's Zhi Xie topped the non-Olympic event in 27.80.
Tateishi (27.86) and another Chinese Li Xiayan (27.89) won silver and bronze, respectively.
Kitajima returned to defend his title in the 100m the next day but was again left disappointed.
Tateishi won the event in 1:00.38. The silver went to Kazakhstan's Vladislav Polyakov (1:01.03) while China's Wang Shuai (1:01.71) settled for the bronze. Kitajima placed fourth with a time of 1:01.85.
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