On Sept. 20 the JAAF announced that three members of Japan's team for the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 Hangzhou Asian Games have withdrawn due to injury. According to the announcement, Arisa Kimishima, the only Japanese woman scheduled to run the 100 m and 200 m, is out with plantar fasciitis. Haruka Kokai, one of two women in the 10000 m, has sustained a stress fracture in one of her feet. Kazuto Iizawa, one of two entrants in the men's 1500 m, is suffering from lower back pain.
The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...


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