Summary of Japanese Medalists at Asian Athletics Championships

With a roster somewhat depleted of top-level talent Japan took no gold but managed to pick up five silver and nine bronze medals at the July 6-9 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, India. Japanese women scored the majority of the medals, taking three silver and eight bronze medals to the men's count of two silver, one bronze.

Women's 10000 m national champion Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) and men's 110 m hurdles national champ Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) were the only athletes already named to Japan's London World Championships team to participate. Matsuda took the bronze medal in the 10000 m behind Daria Maslova (Kyrghizstan) and national championships 5th-placer Yuka Hori (Japan), while Takayama missed out on bronze by 0.04 seconds as he took 4th in 13.65 (-0.6 m/s).

With none of the Japanese medalists clearing London standards at the Asian Athletics Championships there were no additions beyond Matsuda and Takayama to the London team from among those who competed in Bhubaneswar. Among those who opted to stay home, women's javelin national champion Yuki Ebihara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) threw 61.95 m at Sunday's Nambu Memorial Meet in Hokkaido to clear the London standard and position herself as an addition to the Worlds team. Likewise for men's 400 m hurdles runner-up Yusuke Ishida (Waseda Univ.) who hit the London standard dead on to win the Nambu 400 mH in 49.35 for a probable place in London.

A breakdown of Japanese medalists at the Asian Athletics Championships:

22nd Asian Athletics Championships

Bhubaneswar, India, July 6-9, 2017
click here for complete results

Women's 800 m Final
1. Nimali Waliwarsha Konda Liy (Sri Lanka) - 2:05.23
2. Gayanthika Thushari (Sri Lanka) - 2:05.27
3. Fumika Omori (Japan) - 2:06.50

Women's 1500 m Final
1. Chitra Pu (India) - 4:17.92
2. Geng Min (China) - 4:19.15
3. Ayako Jinnouchi (Japan) - 4:19.90

Women's 10000 m
1. Daria Maslova (Kyrghizstan) - 32:21.21
2. Yuka Hori (Japan) - 32:23.26
3. Mizuki Matsuda (Japan) - 32:46.61

Women's 100 m Hurdles Final -0.1 m/s
1. Jung Hyelim (South Korea) - 13.16
2. Ayako Kimura (Japan) - 13.30
3. Wang Dou (China) - 13.36

Women's 400 m Hurdles Final
1. Nguyen Thi (Vietnam) - 56.14
2. Anu R. (India) - 57.22
3. Sayaka Aoki (Japan) - 58.18

Women's 3000 m Steeplechase
1. Sudha Singh (India) - 9:59.47
2. Hyo Gyong (North Korea) - 10:13.94
3. Nana Sato (Japan) - 10:18.11

Men's Pole Vault Final
1. Ding Bangchao (China) - 5.65 m
2. Masaki Ejima (Japan) - 5.65 m
3. Ernest John Obiena (Phillippines) - 5.50 m

Men's Long Jump Final
1. Huang Changzhou (China) - 8.09 m -1.3 m/s
2. Chan Ming Tai (Hong Kong) - 8.03 m -1.0 m/s
3. Shotaro Shiroyama (Japan) - 7.97 m +1.5 m/s

Women's Shot Put
1. Manpreet Kaur (India) - 18.28 m
2. Guo Tianqian (China) - 17.91 m
3. Aya Ota (Japan) - 15.45 m

Women's Hammer Throw
1. Luo Na (China) - 69.92 m
2. Liu Tingting (China) - 69.45 m
3. Hitomi Katsuyama (Japan) - 60.22 m

Women's 4x400 m Relay
1. India - 3:31.34
2. Vietnam - 3:33.22
3. Japan - 3:37.74

Men's Decathlon
1. Suttisak Singkon (Thailand) - 7732
2. Kazuya Kawasaki (Japan) - 7584
3. Guo Qi (China) - 7495

Women's Heptathlon
1. Swapna Barman (India) - 5942
2. Meg Hemphill (Japan) - 5883
3. Purnima Hembram (India) - 5798

© 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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