Quadruple Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima will head a 29-strong Japanese team at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, November 12-27. After a double triumph at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships last month, Kitajima heads to his second big international of his comeback year alongside backstroke aces Junya Koga and Ryosuke Irie.
Aya Terakawa, silver medallist over 100 backstroke at Pan Pacs, but nine of those who raced below par in Irvine, California, last month will not make the trip to China.
"We have narrowed it down to a select few who will give our team a fighting chance,'' said Koji Ueno, of the Japanese federation. Kitajima will not be among those heading for China's Kunming for altitude training on September 16.
The Japan Team for Guangzhou:
Men
- Freestyle, butterfly: Masayuki Kishida, Takuro Fujii, Takeshi Matsuda
- Freestyle: Yuki Kobori, Sho Uchida, Ranmaru Harada, Yoshihiro Okumura, Shunsuke Kuzuhara
- Backstroke: Junya Koga, Ryosuke Irie
- Breaststroke: Ryo Tateishi, Kosuke Kitajima, Naoya Tomita
- Butterfly: Ryusuke Sakata
- Medley: Ken Takakuwa, Yuya Horihata
Women
- Freestyle: Tomoko Hagiwara, Haruka Ueda, Maiko Fujino, Yayoi Matsumoto, Hanae Ito, Risa Sekine
- Backstroke: Aya Terakawa, Shiho Sakai
- Breaststroke: Satomi Suzuki, Rie Kaneto
- Butterfly: Yuka Kato, Natsumi Hoshi
- Medley: Izumi Kato
