Japan at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

overview of Japan at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

Japan sent people to compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The group from Japan was going to compete in para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, para-snowboarding and sledge hockey.

There were three announcements with who would go to the 2018 Winter Games representing Japan. The second announcement was made on 8 February 2018. The last announcement was made on 18 February 2018.[1][2][3] The last announcement said two male para-alpine skiers would be going to South Korea.[4] The country has the third largest team among all nations. It has 38 people.[5]

The table below contains the list of members of people (called "Team Japan") that will be participating in the 2018 Games.

Team Japan
Name Sport Gender Classification Events ref
Momoka Muraoka para-alpine skiing female LW10.2 [6]
Gurimu Narita para-snowboarding male SB-LL2 [7]
Keiichi Sato para-Nordic skiing male biathlon, cross country skiing [8]
Atsushi Yamamoto para-snowboarding male [8]

Para-alpine skiing

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Schedule and training

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Skiers had training runs for the downhill race on 7 March.[9] Their practice runs in the downhill on 8 and 9 March were cancelled.[10][11]

The first event on the para-alpine program was the downhill. It started on 10 March, running from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The second event on the program is Super-G. All skiers raced between 9:30 AM and 1:00 PM on 11 March. The super combined takes place on 13 March. The Super-G part of the event is in the morning. The slalom part is in the afternoon. The slalom event gets underway on 14 March and conclude on 15 March. Women and men both race during the same sessions in the morning. The afternoon sessions start with the women doing their second run. Then the men go.The last para-alpine skiing race of the 2018 Games is the giant slalom. It takes place on 17 - 18 March.  Men and women both race at the same time in the morning sessions.  Women race first in the afternoon sessions, with the men racing a half hour after they end.[12]

Results

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Anna Schaffelhuber of Germany won gold in the women's downhill sitting race.  Momoka Muraoka of Japan won silver.  Laurie Stephens of the United States won bronze.[6] In the men's downhill sitting race, Andrew Kurka of the United States won gold, Taiki Morri of Japan won silver and Corey Peters of New Zealand won bronze.[6] In the women's Super-G sitting race, Anna Schaffelhuber of Germany won gold, Claudia Loesch of Austria won silver, and Momoka Muraoka of Japan won bronze.[13]

Para-Nordic skiing

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Skiers

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Keiichi Sato competes in two sports: para-triathlon and para-Nordic skiing.  The first sport he did was para-Nordic skiing.  As a member of Team Japan, he went to the 2010 and 2014 Winter Paralympics.  After para-triathlon became a Paralympic sport, Sato decided to try it.  He then was part of Team Japan at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. He then went to the 2017 Triathlon World Championships.  After that, he stopped competing in para-triathlon.  He wanted to try to medal at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.  He thought he needed to focus on para-Nordic skiing to do that.[8]

Schedule and results

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On 12 March, the 15 km race takes place, with standing and vision impaired women starting at 10:00 PM. Thee sprint classic qualification takes place on 14 March from 10:00 AM – 11:25 AM for both men and women in all classes. It is followed in the afternoon by the semifinals and finals.  The classic race takes place on 17 March. The standing and visually impaired women's race takes place from 10:00 AM - 12:30.[12]

Para-snowboarding

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Snowboarders

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Atsushi Yamamoto is a track and field competitor.  He won a silver medal in the men's T42 long jump at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.  In November 2017, he went to the World Para Snowboard World Cup in Landgraaf, Netherlands.  The World Cup was his first para-snowboarding competition.  Also there was Daniel Wagner of Denmark.  Wagner won gold in the event which Yamamoto won silver.  Both men had decided to compete internationally in snowboarding during the same year.[8]

Schedule and results

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The snowboard cross event starts on 12 March. It goesfrom 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM for all classes for both men and women.[14] The slalom race is scheduled to take place on 16 March, going from 10:30 AM – 4:55 PM for men and women in all classes.[12]

Sledge hockey

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Roster

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Japan's team has 17 men. Their coach is Kojin Nakakita.[15]

Team Japan
Name Position Role Past Games ref
Mikio Annaka forward 2014 [15]
Shinobu Fukushima goaltender 2014 [15]
Susumu Hirose forward [15]
Wataru Horie forward [15]
Hideaki Ishii defenseman [15]
Nao Kodama forward [15]
Masaharu Kumagai forward alternate captain [15]
Eiji Misawa defenseman 2014 [15]
Kazuya Mochizuki goaltender [15]
Keisuke Nagumo forward [15]
Toshiyuki Nakamura defenseman [15]
Taimei Shiba forward 2014 [15]
Yoshihiro Shioya forward [15]
Satoru Sudo defenseman captain 2014 [15]
Kazuhiro Takahashi forward alternate captain 2014 [15]
Daisuke Uehara defenseman 2014 [15]
Mamoru Yoshikawa forward 2014 [15]

To the Games

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Japan, Sweden and the Czech Republic were the last 3 teams that were able to go to the 2018 Games. They could go because of how they finished at the Qualification Tournament in October in Ostersund, Sweden in October 2017.[16][17][18]

Schedule and results

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The United States, South Korea, the Czech Republic and Japan were in Group B for the sledge hockey competition.[17][19] Japan plays against South Korea on 10 March.[19][20] They play the Czech Republic on 13 March.[19]

Preliminary round
Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA GD Pts
  Czech Republic
  Japan
  South Korea
  United States
March 10, 2018
15:30 KST
Japan   15:30 KST   South Korea Gangneung Hockey Centre
March 11, 2018
12:00 KST
Japan   12:00 KST   United States Gangneung Hockey Centre
March 13, 2018
19:00 MSK
Japan   19:00 MSK   Czech Republic Gangneung Hockey Centre

Media and television

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For the first time, the Paralympic Games will be live on television. The 2018 Games will be on NHK.[21] People can watch on NHK General TV and NHK Educational TV channels.[21] Some will be televised with a resolution of 8K.[21] There are going to be 62 hours of live coverage.[21]

References

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  1. "日本パラリンピック委員会". www.jsad.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  2. "日本パラリンピック委員会|ニュース". www.jsad.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  3. "日本パラリンピック委員会|ニュース". www.jsad.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  4. 三次追加_20180214.pdf "平昌2018パラリンピック冬季競技大会 日本代表選手団" [Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games Games Japan national team] (PDF). Japanese Paralympic Committee (in Japanese). 18 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)[permanent dead link]
  5. "PyeongChang to host largest Winter Paralympics next month". Yonhap News Agency. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Daily Schedule - Sat, 10 Mar". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  7. "PyeongChang 2018 Sport Week: Snowboard Ones to Watch". International Paralympic Committee. 6 February 2018.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "PyeongChang 2018: 6 dual-sport athletes". International Paralympic Committee. 9 February 2018.
  9. "Alpine Skiing". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  10. "Alpine Skiing: 8 March". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  11. "Alpine Skiing: 9 March". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Programm". Austrian Paralympic Committee (in German). 12 February 2018. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  13. "Alpine Skiing Live Results: 11 March". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  14. "Programm". Austrian Paralympic Committee (in German). 2 February 2018. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  15. 15.00 15.01 15.02 15.03 15.04 15.05 15.06 15.07 15.08 15.09 15.10 15.11 15.12 15.13 15.14 15.15 15.16 15.17 "PyeongChang 2018: Japan name Para ice hockey team". International Paralympic Committee.
  16. "PyeongChang 2018: 10 things to know". www.paralympic.org. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  17. 17.0 17.1 "PyeongChang 2018: Para ice hockey seedings and groups revealed". International Paralympic Committee.
  18. "Ostersund 2017: Sweet Victory for Sweden". International Paralympic Committee.
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Parahockey sur glace - Horaire et Résultats". www.hockeycanada.ca. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  20. "Så sänder SVT Paralympics 2018 - Sport | SVT.se". SVT Sport (in Swedish). Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 "NHK: Zimowe igrzyska paraolimpijskie w 8K | 8K - SATKurier.pl". SATKurier.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 20 February 2018.