Confident host

Jakarta eases worries over Asian Games after quake

TOKYO — 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.

While Japan can always count on medals in traditional sports such as judo and karate, the Asian Games will give the country a chance to gauge preparations in events it hasn’t 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’s no longer a far-fetched dream.

At the Asian Games, they’ll face a stiff challenge from China, silver medalist 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 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 100 (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 program 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.

Baseball and softball are also returning to the Olympic program in Tokyo and, while Japan has always been a medal contender, the Asian Games will provide a good test run after a long absence from international competition.

Baseball and softball haven’t been contested in the Olympics since Beijing in 2008 and Japan is hoping to take home the gold medal in both events in two years’ time.

In the pool, Kosuke Hagino and teenage star Rikako Ikee are among 22 swimmers representing the nation in Indonesia.

Hagino collected four gold medals and was named MVP at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

The 18-year-old Ikee competed in seven disciplines, including relays, at the Rio Olympics.

She is the junior world record holder in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly long-course events.