Shingo Suetsugu, Nobuharu Asahara and Dai Tamesue, Japan's medal hopefuls for the upcoming World Championships, left Saturday for Frankfurt, Germany, where they will train before setting foot in Paris for the Aug. 23-31 athletics meet. Earlier this month, Suetsugu said he opted out of the 100 meters to reduce physical strain and focus on the 200 and 400 relays.

Asahara, whose personal best is 10.02 seconds, will compete in the men's 100 and aim to become the first Asian sprinter to go under the 10-second mark while also hoping to become the first Japanese in 71 years to advance to the discipline's final at a World Championships. Tamesue will be looking to put on a repeat of his bronze medal-winning performance at the Canada worlds two years ago when he clocked 47.89 seconds in the men's 400-meter hurdles.