Japan cagers sent home after spending night with women

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

Jakarta, August 20

The multi-disciplinary Games are a celebration of triumph but they are also associated with scandals too. And the inevitable happened in Jakarta when the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) announced that they have sent four players of the basketball team back home after they were caught soliciting with the prostitutes. 

With bowed head, the chef-de-mission of the Japanese delegation Yashuhiro Yamashita asked for forgiveness from the Japanese people. “I feel a sense of shame. We deeply apologise and intend to give the athletes a thorough guidance from now on,” he told media on Monday.

Yuya Nagayoshi, Takuya Hashimoto, Takuma Sato, Keita Imamura were sent home on their own cost after they were spotted soliciting women wearing Japan’s national team jerseys.

This the second straight Asian Games where the Japanese contingent had been in the news for the wrong reason. At the 2014 Incheon Asian Games edition, swimmer Naoya Tomita was booked after he was caught in a CCTV footage stealing a camera from a South Korean journalist.

Stuck in Delhi

Li Lin, a reporter of Indonesian news channel CCTV, was looking for Indian journalists willing to talk about Vinesh Phogat’s career as she was the hot favourite to win the gold medal. When Lin found a couple, she startled them with: “Mujhe Hindi aati hai.” Of course, she had to work hard to master the accent, her three-year stint as a reporter for CCTV’s bureau in New Delhi played a major role. “They (channel management) have made sure I stay in Delhi because I know Hindi,” to break the ice. Besides being curious to know about the Phogat sisters the conversation veers towards the Dangal movie. “Once the Games are over, I have to return to Delhi,” she says with a sigh.

QF hurdle of taekwondo team

The Indian taekwondo team was in the arena, eager to catch some wrestling bouts involving fellow countrymen. With the venues of the two disciplines in the vicinity, it was convenient for the team to watch some bouts after their practice. The team of four men and two women had to fight through a court battle to get a ticket for the Games. Kashish Malik, Navjit Malik, Akshay Kumar and others missed almost 15 days of training due to the court battle. So, while they are happy and proud that justice was done, they are also realistic about their chances. “Think we will do well to reach the quarters. We skipped training for the court case. We have to give extra to reach the last-eight stage where we invariably lose,” Kumar said. Making the cut for the semifinals ensures a medal. 

The team would be hoping that luck would favour them this time.