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Holy salkow, Batman, Miki’s back! Yes, Japan’s very own Babe on Ice, Miki Ando, roared back to form in the opening event of the Grand Prix figure skating series, not only winning October’s Skate America competition in Connecticut, but overshadowing younger teen star Mao Asada, everybody’s current tip for greatness. Ando, of course, was panned after finishing a disappointing 15th at the Turin Olympics, but she’s lost a bit of chunkiness and taken her skating to a higher level; maybe now she will start to fulfill her promise. Next up on the calendar is the NHK Trophy from November 30 to December 3 in Nagano. Japan’s women skaters are hot right now. Catch them while you can. FV See sports listings for details.
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By
Fred Varcoe
The battle for East Asia
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| Toshiya Fujita of Jubilo
Iwata does battle against Asia’s best |
While Asian soccer has progressed significantly over the
last decade or so, the sheer size of the continent makes it
difficult for clubs to drum up enthusiasm for pan-Asian competitions.
OK, so the Asian Cup is big, but that tournament features
national teams, which always brings fans out of the closet.
At the club level things are different. There’s an Asian
Champions League, and it’s a prestigious tournament,
but it remains a sideshow to domestic and national team competitions.
What brings out the best in fans and players is rivalry. To
this end, the leagues of China, Japan and South Korea have
started a new competition—the A3 Mazda Champions Cup—to
spark a bit of regional interest at the club level.
World best
While the World Cup is the biggest single-sport event on the
planet, it’s not the best soccer competition. Put simply,
the need to encompass the entire world in one event dilutes
the level of competition. The best soccer event in the world
is the European Championship, because the level of the teams
taking part is higher than those in the World Cup. At a club
level, the European Champions League provides more high-level
soccer, although there have been calls recently for the tournament
to be downsized to maintain the level of competition. Rivalry
between the best is what people want to see.
And this is what they’ll get with the four-team A3 Mazda
Champions Cup, which takes place in Tokyo February 16-22.
The tournament brings together the champions of China’s
C. League (Dalian Shide), South Korea’s K. League (Seongnam
Ilhwa) and Japan’s J. League (Jubilo Iwata). The host
nation will feature an additional team in the Kashima Antlers,
winners of the J. League Nabisco Cup. The format will be round-robin
and all matches will be at Tokyo's National Stadium. On the
16th, Jubilo will take on Seongnam, followed by Kashima against
Dalian. The two overseas clubs will face off on the 19th,
followed by the clash involving the two Japanese teams. On
the 22nd Kashima opens the action against Seongnam before
the tournament closes with Jubilo's match against Dalian.
The Jubilo-Seongnam and Kashima-Seongnam matches will be broadcast
live on TV, while others will be on tape delay. It promises
to be an interesting tournament, and the organizers are putting
their money where their mouth is. Prize money totals $850,000
and the winning team carries off $400,000.
The competition will be of particular interest to the two
foreign teams, as they are in the same group in the second
round of the Asian Champions league. And you can be sure officials
from Shimizu S-Pulse will also be checking them out, as they’re
also in Group B.
Next stage
The tournament will be of particular interest to the two foreign
teams, as they’re in the same group in the second round
of the Asian Champions league. And you can be sure that officials
from Shimizu S-Pulse will also tune in, as they’re also
in Group B.
Seongnam have won the K. League for the past two years and
feature former J. League players Kim Do Hoon and Yoon Jung
Hwan, while striker Kim Dae Ui was last year’s league
MVP and coach Cha Kyoung Bok was named coach of the year.
Dalian Shide is probably China’s strongest club and has
won the C. League six times in the last eight years. Veteran
striker Hao Haidong has won over 100 caps for his country,
while Zhang Enhua is another Chinese star and probably the
only Chinese player who can boast of having played for Grimsby
Town.
One of the advantages of this tournament is that over the
weekend fans can get to see two good matches in one day (at
1 and 5pm). The organizers will also provide entertainment
between matches and are hoping there will be strong support
from Tokyo’s Chinese and Korean communities. Special
family tickets are available.
Ticket prices for adults range from
¥7,000 to ¥2,000, with children up to 15 getting in for ¥1,000.
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