The last trial to determine the Japanese team that will compete at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, in December took place yesterday.  2 men and 1 woman from Japan are authorized to compete at the Asian Games, which are the equivalent to the Olympics but at the Asian scale. 

The Japanese trial gathered the top 6 competitors from the preceding trial. 

In the men's, World silver medalist Yasuhiro Ueyema had no difficulty to dominate his rivals once again.  Ueyama, who won both World Cups held this year, performed superior optionals that obtained 40.90 pts and 40.00 pts (15.50 pt tariff).  The 22-year-old champion from Osaka finished with a total of 111.60 pts.  Ueyama had also won the preceding Japanese trial.  Ueyama will be joined in Doha by Shunsuke Nagasaki (pictured on the right).  The 19-year-old, who finished 4th at the 2006 Ghent World Cup, clinched his spot on the roster for Qatar by delivering an impressive first routine that obtained 30.90 pts, 0.20 pts better than Ueyama's and 1.00 pt better than any other rival's.  Nagasaki then performed two solid optionals that obtained 39.50 pts each (15.10 pt tariff).  He finished 2nd of the test with 109.90 pts.  Nagasaki had also finished 2nd of the preceding Japanese trial, but had fallen off at the test competition held in Qatar earlier this summer.

Manabu Yamaguchi (pictured on the right) took the 3rd place of the trial with 109.10 pts, 0.80 pts behind Nagasaki.  It was a new good performance for Yamaguchi, who had won the 2006 Japanese Age Group Championship in May over Masaki Hitomi and Yasuhiro Ueyama.  Yamaguchi performed two very good optionals (40.10 pts and 39.60 pts with a 15.10 pt tariff), but probably lost the 2nd spot on the roster due to an average 1st routine (29.40 pts).  Masaki Ito, who had finished 4th at the 2006 Krasnodar World Cup, took the 4th place of the trial with 108.80 pts thanks to three good performances, but with a difficulty that was a little sub-par compared to his main rivals. 

2005 World bronze medalist Tetsuya Sotomura (pictured on the left) finished only 5th, but appeared on the way to recover from his struggles with lost skills.  Sotomura, who won the Asian Games test in Doha earlier this summer with a reduced difficulty due to his lost skills, was able to perform his traditional 15.50 pt optional at the trial.  Even though the execution was not as good as what he used to perform, Sotomura showed that he could reemerge as a serious contender for the medals at the major international meets.  Sotomura finished with 107.00 pts.  He was followed by Takayuki Kawanishi, who was not able to master the landing of the final move of his last routine.   

In the women's, the competition really opposed two contenders: Hiromi Hanmoto, who had won the preceding test, and Haruka Hirota (pictured on the right).  The roster spot was hard fought between the two, and Hirota came up on top with 102.80 pts (12.10 pt tariff) thanks to a superior first optional.  Hiromi Hanmoto finished 2nd with 102.30 pts (11.90 pt tariff) with three solid routines.  Yoko Seto was a distant 3rd with 95.40 pts.    

Summary Results of the Last Japanese Trial for the Asian Games

Men's
1. Yasuhiro Ueyama      30.70 (2.70) + 40.90 (15.50) = 71.60   40.00 (15.50) = 111.60
2. Shunsuke Nagasaki   30.90 (2.80) + 39.50 (15.10) = 70.40   39.50 (15.10) = 109.90
3. Manabu Yamaguchi   29.40 (2.50) + 40.10 (15.10) = 69.50   39.60 (15.10) = 109.10
4. Masaki Ito               29.70 (2.30) + 39.70 (14.60) = 69.40   39.40 (14.60) = 108.80
5. Tetsuya Sotomura    29.90 (2.30) + 38.30 (15.10) = 68.20   38.80 (15.50) = 107.00
6. Takayuki Kawanishi   29.40 (2.70) + 37.40 (15.10) = 66.80   35.80 (15.10) = 102.60

Women's
1. Haruka Hirota           29.10 (2.70) + 37.10 (12.10) = 66.20   36.60 (12.10) = 102.80
2. Hiromi Hanmoto        29.40 (2.90) + 36.40 (11.90) = 65.80   36.50 (11.90) = 102.30
3. Yoko Seto               27.30 (2.90) + 33.90 (11.10) = 61.20   34.20 (11.10) = 95.40
4. Kazuyo Minato         26.90 (2.30) + 32.80 (09.60) = 59.70   34.50 (09.80) = 94.20
5. Mina Terada            27.20 (2.70) + 32.50 (09.80) = 59.70   34.20 (11.00) = 93.90
6. Kimiko Tokugawa      26.60 (2.10) + 24.70 (08.20) = 51.30   32.60 (10.00) = 83.90

Link to the detailed results