Japanese superstar and Olympic champion Kosuke Hagino is ominously absent from Japan’s roster for the 2016 Asian Swimming Championships after undergoing surgery last month to remove an extra bone from his right elbow.
In fact, Japan will be without both of their Olympic champions – 200 breaststroker Rie Kaneto isn’t on the Asian Championships roster either – even though she’s participated in this year’s FINA World Cup Series.
Their absence leaves a roster of 19 men and 20 women that will defend home turf in Tokyo from November 14th-20th.
Japan finished second on the medals table in the last edition of the Asian Swimming Championships in 2012. At that meet they won 3 gold medals, and 33 overall, behind China’s 33 gold and 55 total medals.
Leading the charge for Japan will be 21-year old Masato Sakai, who nearly ran down Michael Phelps in the 200 fly at this summer’s Olympics, finishing just .04 behind the most decorated swimmer of all-time. 400 IM bronze medalist Daiya Seto will also be a gold medal favorite in Tokyo.
Men
- Tsubasa Amai
- Takeharu Fujimori
- Junya Hasegawa
- Ayatsugu Hirai
- Masaki Kaneko
- Takeshi Kawamoto
- Masayuki Kishida
- Junya Koga
- Yasuhiro Koseki
- Katsuhiro Matsumoto
- Katsumi Nakamura
- Syunichi Nakao
- Kouichirou Okazaki
- Masato Sakai
- Daiya Seto
- Keita Sunama
- Shogo Takeda
- Ippei Watanabe
- Fuyu Yoshida
Women
- Sayaka Akase
- Reona Aoki
- Tomomi Aoki
- Asami Chita
- Mayuko Gotou
- Chihiro Igarashi
- Rikako Ikee
- Runa Imai
- Sachi Mochida
- Emi Moronuki
- Miyu Nakano
- Rika Nara
- Yui Ohhashi
- Sayuki Ouchi
- MisakiSekiguchi
- Sakiko Shimizu
- Rio Shirai
- Satomi Suzuki
- Asari Wada
- Yui Yamane
AB