Japan Sports News

Kei Nishikori will be aiming to build on his success at the Australian Open when Japan takes on Croatia in this weekends Davis Cup World Group tie. Nishikori, who became the first Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open since the Open Era began in 1968, will face Croatias Ivo Karlovic on Friday. Japans Go Soeda takes on Croatia's top player Ivan Dodig in Fridays other singles match. Saturdays doubles match will feature Karlovic and Lovro Zovko against Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita, while Sundays reverse singles will see Nishikori face Dodig and Soeda against Karlovic. (Japan Times)

The New York Yankees may add one of the three most prominent remaining free agents - Raul Ibanez, Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui - within a week, according to an ESPN report. "The Yankees are considering adding a left-handed bat, and Ibanez, Damon or Matsui could be on the team within a week," ESPN said Monday in its online edition. The sports network quoted a major league source as saying, "The prices still need to come down a little before the Yankees will make a deal with any of the three free agents they are interested in." (Japan Times)

Mao Asada ended last year with a month of triumph and tragedy that are hard to imagine. Just two weeks after her mother Kyoko passed away at 48 on Dec. 9, Mao laced up the boots again and showed the heart of a true champion in winning her fifth national title with an inspiring effort in Osaka. The season restarts this week with the Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It will mark Mao's last competition before next month's world championships in Nice, France. With European skaters not taking part in the Four Continents, the women's field is thin. Mao's main competition will come from compatriot Kanako Murakami and newly crowned U.S. champion Ashley Wagner. (Japan Times)

"Winning [the Prix de Lausanne] has greatly encouraged me for my future. I'd like to become a dancer who can move people," said Madoka Sugai, 17, on Sunday after winning the Prix de Lausanne international ballet competition for young dancers in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday. The Prix de Lausanne is known as the gateway to success for young ballet dancers aged 15 to 18. Judges lauded Sugai for not only her classical dance routine, but also her dynamic contemporary dance program, which is often considered a weak spot for Japanese dancers. Experts expressed hearty congratulations to Sugai, saying they hoped she would become a superb dancer. At the competition, Sugai danced to "Raymonda" for her classical dance routine. (Yomiuri)

A majority of people expect the Nadeshiko Japan women's soccer team to win a medal at the London Olympic Games scheduled to start on July 27, according to a recent Yomiuri Shimbun poll. Following Nadeshiko Japan's victory at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany last summer, 52 percent of respondents picked women's soccer as the most likely category for Japan to win a medal among women's events to be held at the Olympics. Respondents were allowed to pick multiple sports fields in the survey. Among other women's sports, the marathon was second most popular with 33 percent, followed by judo with 28 percent and volleyball with 18 percent. (Yomiuri)

Haruka and Megumi Tachimoto struck gold at the Paris Judo Grand Slam on Sunday, winning the women's 70-kg and 78-kg divisions, respectively. Haruka, the younger of the Tachimoto sisters and ranked fourth in the weight class, stunned France's Lucie Decosse by decision 2-1 after extra time, denying the two-time defending world champion what would have been her eighth title in Paris. "The biggest strength I've got is my heart," Haruka said after beating Decosse, the women's judoka of the year and the gold-medal favorite at this summer's London Olympics. (Japan Times)

Yokozuna Hakuho came back from the brink of defeat, toppling Goeido with a powerful throw in the final of a one-day exhibition tournament on Sunday. In the first one-off contest in two years after the meet was called off due to a match-fixing scandal last year, Hakuho exacted his revenge against Goeido to capture his first title in three years and third overall. Hakuho, who lost to Goeido in the final of the 2010 meet, took home the winner's prize of ¥2.5 million. (Japan Times)

Moved by the plight of children in Japan's tsunami-hit north, one diehard sports fan did something a bit different to help -- dribble a basketball 370 km (231 miles), through rain and snow, to bring sports back to damaged schools. A long-time basketball fan, Hiroshi Moriaka set out from the heart of Tokyo in mid-January to raise enough money to buy 100 basketballs for children in the northern Tohoku region, a vast swathe of which was devastated by the March 11, 2011 disaster and the ensuing nuclear crisis. Wearing long tights and basketball shorts, a thick cap pulled down over his ears, Moriaka dribbled the basketball from hand to hand as he walked, dodging puddles and, in some places, weaving a narrow path along snow-lined sidewalks. (Reuters)

Both sides stood fast at their first court session Thursday as former Yomiuri Giants general manager Hidetoshi Kiyotake maintained his firing was illegal while the Yomiuri group countered that his public criticism of the team's chairman was defamatory. The Tokyo District Court litigation combines Kiyotake's suit and Yomiuri's countersuit. Kiyotake, who claims he was unfairly dismissed and discredited, has demanded that the baseball club, its chairman, Tsuneo Watanabe, and the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper group pay ¥62 million in damages and run an apology in the paper. (Japan Times)

The discredited ex-chairman of the Japan Sumo Association, who stepped down in 2008 amid a drug-abuse scandal, is back in his job. Former yokozuna -- grand champion -- Kitanoumi was elected by the board to return as chairman, tasked with increasing transparency in the embattled martial art. Sumo's image has been seriously tarnished in recent years due in part to the death of a teenage apprentice after a violent training session. Its credibility took a nose-dive in 2010 and 2011 as long-simmering allegations of bout-fixing bubbled over when evidence emerged as police probed another scandal involving wrestlers placing illegal baseball bets. (AFP)

Japan's Under-23s continued their preparations for their upcoming London Olympic qualifier with Syria with a 0-0 draw against Qatar in a practice match at their camp in Doha on Saturday. Kashima Antlers duo Yuya Osako and Kazuya Yamamura both started and Cerezo Osaka's Hiroshi Kiyotake came on as a substitute as all 21 of Takashi Sekizuka's squad were given a run out in the match played behind closed doors in the Qatari capital. (Mainichi)

Business has been lean over the years for many of the horse breeders in Hokkaido, Japan's leading region for producing thoroughbreds, as the popularity of racing declines. But breeders now see a ray of hope in China, where an increasing number of wealthy people are aspiring to own their own racehorses and thus acquire a new status symbol. "The Chinese public is showing growing interest in racehorses," said Han Guocai, vice chairman of the China Horse Industry Association, who was on a visit to a horse ranch in the Hokkaido town of Shinhidaka in December. "Gambling on horse races is banned in China, but that ban could be lifted in the future," he added while taking a close look at the sinewy bodies of some thoroughbreds. (Japan Times)

Andy Murray reached his third successive Australian Open semi-final after easing past the challenge of Kei Nishikori. The world No 4 was rarely troubled by the Japanese, winning 6-3 6-3 6-1 in two hours and 12 minutes, as he maintained his smooth progress through the draw in Melbourne. Impressive: Andy Murray breezed into his third successive Australian Open semi-final Murray will have better days on serve - he got just 44% of first serves into play - but, that aside, there was little room for improvement as he moved into a last-four clash with either Novak Djokovic or David Ferrer. (Daily Mail)

Kei Nishikori keeps accumulating the tennis milestones for Japanese men, always remaining conscious of but not concerned about the expectations being heaped upon him. Nishikori notched another mark Monday when he became the first Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open since the Open Era began in 1968 with an exhausting 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory against former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. "I never feel the pressure," he said. "You know, it's very honor to make a lot of history, to be the No. 1 player in Japan. But that never gives me the pressure." The 22-year-old Nishikori also matched the best Grand Slam performance ever by a Japanese male in the Open Era -- Shuzo Matsuoka's run to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1995. He's now got a chance to better Matsuoka's mark when he plays No. 4-ranked Andy Murray on Wednesday. (cbssports.com)

Yokozuna Hakuho drew a line in the sand Sunday, beating ozeki Baruto to deny the Estonian goliath a 15th win on the final day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament. Baruto was trying to become the first wrestler at sumo's No. 2 rank to win a tournament with a perfect 15-0 mark since Hakuho achieved the feat at the 2007 summer basho, but Hakuho had other plans for sumo's jolly giant in the grand finale at Ryogoku Kokugikan. With his mother and wife in the audience looking on, Baruto came flying out at the charge and attempted to grab Hakuho's arm, but the yokozuna escaped his grasp before heaving Baruto out for a first loss in front of another full house. (Japan Times)

Table tennis icon Ai Fukuhara finally won a national singles title Saturday, defeating 2011 champion Kasumi Ishikawa four games to one in the final. Fukuhara, making her 13th appearance at the national championships, won 11-7, 11-7, 11-7, 3-11, 11-5 in the matchup many people were hoping to see on the penultimate day of action at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. She clinched victory when 18-year-old Ishikawa's backhand went long. (Japan Times)

Estonian ozeki Baruto zeroed in on his first championship title with a crafty win over Kisenosato on Thursday, preserving his unbeaten record with three days left at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament. Baruto (12-0) deployed a frowned-upon "henka" technique and dodged Kisenosato at the charge, quickly pulling him down to move two wins ahead of yokozuna Hakuho, who was mugged by fellow Mongolian Harumafuji at the 15-day Tokyo meet and slipped to 10-2. Former nightclub bouncer Baruto improved to 18-3 against Kisenosato, but his latest victory triggered murmurs of disapproval among spectators at Ryogoku Kokugikan, with some booing and jeering his slippery tactics. (Japan Times)

Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho relaunched his bid for a third consecutive title with a satisfying victory over Kisenosato on Wednesday, while Estonian ozeki Baruto also won handsomely to maintain his slender lead heading into the final stretch of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament. Kisenosato famously ended Hakuho's 63-bout winning streak at the 2010 Kyushu Basho, but there was only ever going to be one winner in the day's finale as the yokozuna quickly took control at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Looking to rebound from a shock first loss to Kakuryu on Tuesday, Hakuho wasted no time in grabbing Kisenosato's arm to set himself up for the kill, ushering out the ozeki to move into double digits at 10-1. (Japan Times)

One false move and it was all over for Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho in a shock defeat to countryman Kakuryu at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Tuesday. Estonian ozeki Baruto emerged as the improbable sole leader after Hakuho suffered his first loss, improving his record to a perfect 10-0 with a dismantling of Toyonoshima at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan. Hakuho was brought crashing back down to earth in the day's final after Kakuryu got his hand on the yokozuna's mawashi and spun him like a top before heaving his opponent over for his first "kinboshi," win against a yokozuna. (Japan Times)

With or without Hideki Matsui, Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin is looking forward to opening Major League Baseball's 2012 season in Japan. The Athletics and Seattle Mariners open the regular season with a two-game series at Tokyo Dome on March 28-29. Many hoped the series would feature a showdown between Matsui and countryman Ichiro Suzuki, but Melvin said the A's likely won't be re-signing Matsui, a 37-year-old free agent. "Matsui was a great fit for us last year and we all loved having him on our team," Melvin said at a press conference on Monday to promote the series. "But this year it doesn't look like a fit for us based on the personnel we have going forward." (thenewstribune.com)