Groups try to level playing field by limiting foreign players

06/29/2007
The Asahi Shimbun.
Source: http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200706290152.html

The slogan of high school sport associations could be: If you can't beat 'em, ban 'em.

The associations have introduced tough restrictions on foreign students because they are trouncing the Japanese athletes in sports such as the ekiden relay marathon, basketball and table tennis.

The restrictions followed protests from Japanese fans who say the superior ability of the foreign students is making the sporting events dull.

In May, the All Japan High School Athletic Federation decided to ban foreign students from running the first leg in the All Japan High School Ekiden Championships, which is held in Kyoto every December.

For the boys' division, the total course of 42.195 kilometers is split into seven legs, with the 10-km first section the longest.

In the championships in December 2006, four Kenyan students ran in the first leg. The slowest Kenyan was still 30 seconds faster than the quickest Japanese runner.

Sumio Shokawa, secretary-general of the All Japan High School Athletic Federation's track and field division, said an ekiden fan sent an e-mail complaining: "No Japanese students are shown on TV. That was like an African championship."

Another disgruntled e-mailer told Shokawa: "The schools bring the foreign students here just to publicize the names of their schools. They are not suitable for high school sport competitions."

In the past few years at the ekiden championships, fans of Japanese athletes gather at the Nishi-Kyogoku track and field ground in Kyoto to protest to the participation of foreign students.

The number of foreign students is increasing in other sports, much to the chagrin of many locals.

According to the high school athletic federation, 293 foreign students were registered in 32 prefectures in 2006.

As the number of foreign students has grown, so have the number of restrictions.

In basketball, for example, a school can have only one foreign student on the court. In soccer, only two foreign students from the same school are allowed on the pitch at the same time.

Senegalese students are drawing attention in basketball.

Noshiro Technical High School in Akita Prefecture, which has won the national high school championships as many as 20 times, was defeated by schools with Senegalese students in the past two years.

In the 2005 championships, the finals pitted Fukuoka Dai-ichi High School in Fukuoka Prefecture against Nobeoka Gakuen High School in Miyazaki Prefecture. Both teams had Senegalese students taller than 2 meters.

Foreign high school students who play table tennis are mainly from China.

Over the past 15 years, Chinese students have won the national inter-high school championships eight times in the boys' singles division and 11 times in the girls' singles division.

Currently, a school can have only one foreign student on its table-tennis team. In addition, foreign students cannot be on the same side for doubles matches.

Some have doubts on the restrictions on foreign students. They say the Japanese students should just work harder.

One is Shinya Iwamoto, coach of the track team at Sera Senior High School in Hiroshima Prefecture.

The prefectural school, which has accepted Kenyan students since 2002, won the national high school ekiden championships in 2006 for the first time in 32 years.

"Kenyan students are making greater efforts than their Japanese counterparts," Iwamoto said. "Their attitudes have raised the level of the entire team."(IHT/Asahi: June 29,2007)