Olympics: Japan's ski jumpers reach final, still no medals
February 17, 2006Japan's ski jumpers all qualified for the final of the large hill event Friday on another medalless day for the country at the Turin Olympics. There were medals up for grabs in three finals, but the closest Japan came to a podium spot was a seventh-place finish by Yuka Fujimori in the women's snowboard cross.
Olympics: Japanese jumpers breeze into large hill final
February 17, 2006Noriaki Kasai finished first in the qualifying round Friday as all three Japanese ski jumpers coasted into the final of the large hill event at the Turin Olympic Games. Kasai topped the field of 54 with 117.3 points after a jump of 126 meters at the K-125 hill in the Italian Alps, which gave him a place in Saturday's competition along with fellow qualifiers Daiki Ito and Tsuyoshi Ichinohe.
Baseball: Yakult closer Ishii signs new deal
February 17, 2006The Yakult Swallows signed closer Hirotoshi Ishii to a new one-year contract worth 150 million yen plus performance incentives three weeks after the left-hander gave up on his bid to pursue a career in the major leagues this year. Ishii earned a raise of 67 million yen in annual salary during four-hour talks with club officials, who had rejected his request to move to the major leagues through the posting system earlier in the offseason.
2ND LD Golf: Miyazato at 2-under in season-opening SBS Open
February 17, 2006Japanese star Ai Miyazato shot a 2-under-par 70 through 14 holes on her highly anticipated U.S. LPGA tour rookie debut in the suspended first round of the SBS Open on Thursday. Miyazato, who secured a spot on the LPGA Tour with a record 12-shot win at the qualifying school last December, made a shaky start when she bogeyed after missing a 3-foot putt on the 10th at Turtle Bay Resort's Palmer Course.
Olympics: Fujimori squeaks into snowboard cross q'finals
February 17, 2006Japan's Yuka Fujimori squeezed into the women's snowboard cross quarterfinals after advancing from the two qualification runs at the Turin Winter Olympics on Friday. Fujimori was disappointed with her performance but her time of 1 minute, 32.46 seconds in the first run was good enough to give her 15th and a place among the top 16 who advanced from the field of 23 riders.
Soccer: J-League champions to play in Club World Cup
February 17, 2006Soccer's world governing body FIFA on Thursday gave the green light for this season's Japanese club champions to play at the Club World Cup in Japan in December. The Club World Cup organizing committee approved the participation of a host team at a meeting in Zurich.
Olympics: Japan's Takahashi settles for 8th in men's figure skating
February 17, 2006Daisuke Takahashi ended his first Olympic campaign on a sour note Thursday after the Japanese national champion came up short with his brave challenge and finished eighth in men's figure skating. Takahashi made two costly mistakes on his jumps and was unable to inject flair and finesse into his long program as he dropped from fifth after the short program Tuesday with a performance that could only manage the ninth highest score in the free skate.
Olympics: Japan still on medal drought in Turin
February 17, 2006Japan continued its nightmare start Thursday after finishing the sixth day of competition still desperately seeking its first medal at the Turin Olympics. Japan had a chance to win a bronze medal but its speed skaters missed out for the third time in Turin after a crash led to a fourth-place finish in the women's team pursuit against Russia, while teenager Daisuke Takahashi was also left to rue without a medal in men's figure skating.