The Japanese delegation put its gold medal hope mainly in skating events at the 6th Asian Winter Games, said Toshiaki Murasato, Chef-de-Mission of the Japanese delegation which arrived in Changchun on Thursday.

"We aim at 10 to 15 gold medals, and due to the cancel of some snow events, I believe most of the golds will come from speed skating and figure skating, as we have fielded the best skating team here."

The first batch of the Japanese delegation, which has 126 members with athletes from speed skating, short track speed skating, ice hockey, biathlon, curling and snowboard, arrived at Changchun at 18:30.

There are three world class skaters in men's 500m speed skating in the team, including Yuya Oikawa, who finished fourth in men's 500m speed skating in Turin Olympic Games, Hiroyasu Shimizu, champion of the Nagano Olympics in 1998 and Joji Kato, the world record holder.

Oikawa said he had won twice in the 100m events in his two attempts in World Cup events held in China and hoped to continue his good luck at the 6th Asian Winter Games.

The figure skating team, which will arrive at Changchun on January 30, also bears the hope of gold medals, especially the women's singles skaters, despite of the absence of the talented teenager Maomai Asada. Fumie Suguri, fourth of the Turin Olympics is already too much for the other Asian competitors.

In contrast, Murasato did not put much hope in the short track events.

"China, South Korea and Japan were almost shoulder by shoulder in the short track speed skating four years ago, but now we have been left behind," said Murasato. "This is a good chance for us to know how large the gap is now."

The Japanese team suffered a bitter failure at the Turin Olympics as they won just one gold from the women's singles figure skating.

"This is a good chance for us to turn the direction of the winter sports. The level of the competitions means more than the medals for us," said Murasato. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)