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Atsushi Sato to Run Tokyo Marathon

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/news/20100101k0000m050022000c.html
http://www.47news.jp/CN/200912/CN2009123101000436.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

2009 World Championships men's marathon 6th place finisher Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) has announced that he will run in the Feb. 28 Tokyo Marathon. The 31 year old Sato has worked his way back from the disaster of being the last finisher at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, coming in 8th in last April's London Marathon before his strong 6th place in Berlin. In his first domestic marathon since the December 2007 Fukuoka International Marathon, where he was 3rd in a PB of 2:07:13 against Beijing gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) and Beijing 4th place finisher Deriba Merga (Ethiopia), Sato is one of the best hopes for returning Japan to a competitve position in the era of the high-speed marathon.
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