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Japan bid to overtake South Korea in Asiad

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Japan aim to overtake South Korea for second place at the Asian Games that will open in two days, delegation chiefs said on Wednesday.

Japan are sending their biggest-ever Asiad squad of 1,078 people, including 726 athletes, to Guangzhou.

Speaking at a press conference, Ichihara Noriyuki, chef-de-mission of the Japanese delegation, insisted Japan's bid to "surpass South Korea no matter what and become Asia's number two" on the gold medal table.

At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, China topped with 165 golds, ahead of 58 for South Korea and 50 for Japan. Ichihara said they would aim for "at most 60 gold medals" in Guangzhou.

"We are not able to know the final result until the last moment, but the possibility (of surpassing South Korea) still exists," he said.

After their long dominance in the Asian Games, Japan were surpassed by China in 1982 and then overtaken by South Korea in 1986.

Tsukahara Mitsuo, vice chef-de-mission of the delegation, said Japan would once again hope to produce sound performance in swimming, judo, track and field, gymnastics and wrestling. "These are our traditional strengths during the Asian Games," said Tsukahara.

Japan's gold medal pursuit is led by two-time Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima, women's wrestling world champion Saori Yoshida and several world judo champions.