Japanese gymnasts under injury cloud before games

Japan men’s gymnastics team for their home Asian Games this month includes multiple Olympic and world champions, but serious injuries have clouded their chances. Shinnosuke Oka, who won gold in the all-around, team and horizontal bar events at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is facing a race to be fit after suffering a lower back injury last week.

The Games begin in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area on Saturday next week, with the men’s gymnastics competition getting under way two days later.

Former junior world champion Tomoharu Tsunogai is also nursing a serious ankle injury, while lower back pain for Shoma Tsukiyama means three of Japan’s five-man team are carrying injuries heading into the competition.

Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto practices on the floor during a gymnastics team training exhibition for the media on Wednesday.

Photo: AFP

Oka did not take part in a team practice on Wednesday, but told reporters afterwards that he still intended to compete in Nagoya.

“I’m looking forward to it and I think a switch will flick in me,” said the 22-year-old.

Japan are the reigning Olympic team champions, but China won the Asian Games title on home soil in Hangzhou in 2023.

Japan’s team for this year’s competition also includes reigning world and former Olympic all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto, as well as Kiichi Kaneda.

Japan team boss Kensuke Murata said he would assess his team’s fitness and decide on any changes before the Sept. 16 deadline.

Murata said that Oka would perform less difficult routines if he does compete.

Oka and Hashimoto are also set to be part of Japan’s team for the world championships in Rotterdam next month.

Oka hurt his back in training and said that “the pain was different to the kind of pain I usually feel.”

“I went to the hospital and it wasn’t a herniated disc, but it was something serious,” he said.

Hashimoto, the all-around Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021 and a three-time world all-around champion said he was not worried by Japan’s injury woes.

“I think the athletes themselves understand their situation better than anyone,” the 25-year-old said.

“As long as they’re thinking about what they can do and what they should do, I’m not worried because they have already put in an incredible amount of training,” he said.