OSAKA -- Three female university students are aiming for next summer's Tokyo Olympics going into Japan's final qualifying trial for the Olympic archery slated for next March.
Tomoka Ohashi, Azusa Yamauchi and Utano Agu competed in the All Japan Student Archery's individual and team competitions held in Osaka Prefecture from Sept. 15 to 18.
They will aim for a medal in Tokyo Olympics, which could be Japan's first archery medals in two Games. They also are expected to participate in the 2024 Paris Games as leading players.
Ohashi, a junior at Kindai University, won her first victory with a steady performance in the individual competition. She has been selected for the national archery team since she was a third-year student at St. Mary's Girls' Junior High School in Gifu Prefecture.
When Ohashi was 14, she "counted backward from the 2020 Olympics, and made a timeline with setting the goal," she said. "Step by step, the Olympics are ahead of me," she said calmly after her long-awaited victory.
Yamauchi, a senior at Kindai University, contributed to the team by taking third place in the team competition.
In the individual competition, she aimed for a consecutive victory but lost in the quarterfinals. "I feel the sting of defeat," she said biting down on her lip.
Her career in archery is short, having started when she was at Hamamatsu Commercial High School in Shizuoka Prefecture. Yamauchi practiced hard and shot 450 arrows a day at university, which helped her build up her strength. "I don't see any limits yet," she said.
Agu, a senior at Doshisha University, brought her team the championship in the team competition. She showed her mental strength by shooting 10 points in the final arrow to win the championship.
When she started archery as a freshman at Doshisha Girls' Junior High School in Kyoto, she was only 140 centimeters tall and weighed 28 kilograms, but after steady training, she is now 159 centimeters and weighs 52 kilograms. "I can grow even more," she said.
A total of five players including the three and Ren Hayakawa of Denso Solution, who won a bronze medal at the London Olympics, will compete in the qualifying trial. The top three will be selected to represent the individual and team competitions in the Tokyo Games.
Ohashi, Yamauchi and Agu, who have competed in various games since they were teenagers, discussed their aspirations.
While Ohashi said, "I will concentrate on myself," Yamauchi said, "As a result of friendly rivalry, I hope all three of us can become representatives." Agu said, "I'd like to overtake [the two] someday."
It seems that they have enhanced their will to fight at the student championship to prepare for the decisive battle six months down the road.
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