Host Japan set to top Asian Winter Games

In the past seven editions of the Asian Winter Games, host country has topped the final medal table six times, mostly as a run-away leader. As the Sapporo Games opens on Sunday, it is doubtless that Japan will emerge as the overall winner and win far more gold medals over whoever finishes second.

That's the view of Chinese winter sports official Huang Lixia, who says that China "will vie for second place with South Korea and Kazakhstan."

"Japan is set to be No. 1," added Huang, who is in charge of training for the Chinese national teams.

Huang noted that Japan is in a class of its own compared to the rest of Asia in skiing events, as well as a strong contender in speed skating and figure skating.

"China is strong on ice but weak on snow. The aerials is the only event where China boasts world class skiers, but it is no longer a competition event here," she said.

Japan also enjoys a hosting advantage that is owed to how the Asian Winter Games is structured.

Unlike the summer or winter Olympic Games, whose competition program is decided by the International Olympic Committee, the Asian Winter Games allows the host country to add its stronger sports to the program while dropping others where its athletes have traditionally struggled.

The Asian Winter Games was a brainchild of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC). In 1982, the JOC proposed a winter version of the Asian Games to the Olympic Council of Asia, with the stated aim of promoting and developing winter sports in Asia.

The 1st Games was held in Sapporo in 1986, with Japan also the host for the 2nd Games (in Sapporo) and the 5th (in Aomori).

The 1st Asian Winter Games was a small-scale affair, attracting only 290 athletes from eight delegations in seven disciplines. By the 7th Games, it had expanded to include 786 athletes from 26 countries and regions competing in 11 disciplines.

The 8th edition of the Games, whose speed skating events will be hosted by Obihiro, is expected to be the largest-ever of its kind, attracting around 1,500 participants from 30 countries and regions.

The medals table in past editions of the Games has been lopsided in favor of just a handful of countries.

The 1st Games witnessed Japan run away with 29 gold medals and beat China into a distant second with only four golds. South Korea and DPR Korea were the other gold winners, with one each.

Only three countries struck gold in the 2nd Games, with China remaining second with nine golds to Japan's 18. South Korea had six.

The 3rd Games saw host China narrowly hang on to the top spot with 15 golds, just one ahead of second-placed Kazakhstan. Japan fell to third place with eight golds.

China upset Japan 19-13 in the 4th Games in South Korea which remains the only case in which the host country failed to win the top spot.

Host Japan swept the table with 24 golds in the 5th Games, beating South Korea and China into second and third, respectively.

China returned to the top when its northeast city Changchun held the 6th Games, but fell to fourth place in the 7th Games, hosted by Almalty, Kazakhstan, which for the first time topped the Asian Winter Games medal table, with 32 golds. Japan and South Korea came second and third respectively, each with 13 golds. Enditem