It doesn’t appear so way back that the Olympics have been in Tokyo and now the Paris video games are on the horizon. That was made very obvious at this qualifying occasion in Tokyo on the finish of final month. October was one thing of a water sport particular for me with three occasions in eight days. First up was swimming on Sunday, that was adopted by water polo on Friday after which there was this slalom canoeing and kayaking occasion two days after that.
Truly discovering out about these water sports activities going down actually did take one thing of a deep dive into my web search engine, and day by day checks for extra info within the weeks constructing as much as the occasions yielded little or no. Ultimately although I managed to pay money for the schedule for this slalom occasion and a plan was made to attend the afternoon session.
Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre (6-1-1 Rinkaicho, Edogawa-ku) is lower than ten minutes on foot from Kasai-Rinkai Park station on the JR Keiyo Line however Google Maps didn’t take me the direct route. As a substitute, I entered by way of the safety gate for the automotive park the place I used to be allowed by way of by the guard however about 200 metres additional on it was obvious that I’d even have been mistaken for a competitor as I used to be in an space I shouldn’t have been with out the correct lanyard cross round my neck. Perhaps they thought I used to be from Uzbekistan or someplace as this was an Olympic qualifying occasion for all of Asia. I used to be quickly ushered by way of to the proper space for spectators by a form employees member.
There was a sizeable crowd of round 200 folks (at a tough guess) in attendance on a heat and sunny afternoon at this venue which was constructed at a value of about seven billion yen ($64m) for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I actually did suppose I might need been the one particular person in attendace beforehand so was fairly shocked and relieved to search out out some others knew this was collaborating.
The ladies’s canoe finals have been first up simply after 1pm with 9 rivals together with a few Japanese females who had blended fortunes. Haruka Okazaki got here fourth while Ren Mishima got here final. China’s Juan Huang was the quickest with a complete time of 114.86 which I’m nonetheless somewhat confused however I suppose they don’t use minutes on this sport!
What quickly turned obvious on this 200 metre lengthy course was the ability wanted to do such a sport. There have been round 20 gates together with just a few of them positioned up stream thus requiring a change of route and needing lots of energy and ability to paddle towards the swift present.
The boys’s canoe finals adopted and included Japan’s Takuya Haneda who was essentially the most extensively supported of all of the rivals. He received bronze at Rio 2016 turning into the primary Asian to win an olympic medal within the sport, and he got here out on high on this qualifier with a reasonably faultless efficiency (properly there have been no time penalties for him in any respect) clocking in with a time of 99.05.
The ladies’s kayaking was subsequent not that I may actually inform any distinction between this and canoeing! The gang had dwindled a good bit by the point this occasion began however I caught round for a bit extra motion.
The boys’s kayaking finals adopted however I used to be happy with what I had seen and wanted to get again residence anyway. Hopefully when Paris 2024 rolls round subsequent yr I’ll see one or two of those rivals on TV and if Takuya Haneda or whoever wins a medal for Japan I’ll little question be telling my college students that I watched them stay at this occasion.
Bonus: While it’s not a water sport, it’s performed on ice which is principally frozen water isn’t it? This wasn’t my first ice hockey recreation as I noticed a double header of video games in Tokyo again in 2018 when 4 groups got here to play within the capital. Again then the closest crew to Tokyo was Nikko Ice Bucks from Tochigi Prefecture however since then a brand new and nearer crew has emerged as Yokohama Grits have been based in Could 2019. My pal Daniel is a daily attendee at their residence video games so I made a decision to hitch him and his pals one afternoon as they confronted Korean opposition.
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