Three golds in karate highlighted Japan's medal haul at the Asian Games on Tuesday, as Tetsuya Furukawa and Nao Morooka won kata events and Tomoko Araga took the women's 53-kg kumite title, but the women's volleyball team had to settle for silver after a four-set loss to China.
Japan's Yuzo Kanemaru (left) receives the baton from Yoshihiro Horigome in the men's 4x400-meter relay on
Tuesday at the Asian Games in Doha. Japan finished fourth.
KYODO PHOTOFurukawa beat Malaysia's Ku Jin Keat 5-0 in the men's final, while Morooka defeated Vietnam's Nguyen Hoang Ngan by the same score in the women's gold medal match. The victories in the kata, where karate techniques are performed against imaginary opponents, were followed by an emphatic win by two-time world champion Araga who outscored Ma Marna Pabillore of the Philippines 9-1 in the final of her class in combat events.
In women's volleyball Athens Olympic champion China came from a set down to win the final 22-25, 25-10, 25-23, 25-16 and take its third straight Asian Games title, dashing Japan's hopes of winning a first Asian Games gold since 1978 and extending its winning streak against Japan to 17 matches.