Tokyo, Oct 13 (AFP) A senior Japanese Olympic officialhas called on the host country's athletes to win a national-record 30 gold medals at the 2020 Summer Games, local mediareported today.
Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) sports committeechairman Yasuhiro Yamashita backed home-grown competitors tomore than double their haul of 12 golds at last year's RioOlympics, where Japan finished sixth in the medal table.
"I reckon we can aim to get 2.5 times the amount we didin Rio," the former Olympic judo champion told local media,pointing to Japan's recent success in gymnastics, table tennisand badminton.
"That's just my personal opinion, not that of thetechnical committee," added the 60-year-old Yamashita, who wasJapan's deputy chef de mission in Brazil.
"We will collect the relevant data and decide (theofficial target) hopefully by next summer."Yamashita, who won judo gold at the 1984 Los AngelesOlympics, also raised the hope that the host nation's trackathletes could deliver a surprise after a Japanese sprinter,Yoshihide Kiryu, finally broke the 10-second barrier lastmonth after years of trying.
Japan's previous best effort in terms of gold medals wasas host of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and at the 2004 AthensGames, when they won 16.
Thirty golds would have put them above second-placedBritain's 27 in Rio, but still a long way behind the table-topping United States, who captured 46.
Yamashita was also bullish about Japan's chances at nextyear's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, predictingnine medals overall.
The country's previous best haul at a Winter Games wasfive gold medals and 10 in total as host of the NaganoOlympics in 1998. (AFP)ATK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.