JAPANESE ATHLETES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 32, 22 February 1937, Page 9

JAPANESE ATHLETES

Tour of Dominion Opens AUCKLANT), Last Night. The Japanese athletes were seen in action. in New Zealand for the first time, j ion. Saturday, when Kohei Murakogo, the. ! long-distanee runner, and Kehshi Tog- , ami, the jumper, made their first com- i petitive appearanee of their Dominion ! tour at a special carnival held by the. • Auckland Amateur Athletie Centre on- ' Carlayf Park. Both the visitors, who were among the best Japanese performers at the Berlin Olympic Games, gave , outstanding displays^ Outpacing hisj opponents 'with ease, Murakoso scored' •a decisive win in a special two miles! handicap, while his countryman won thej broad jump and gained second place in both the hop, step and jump and high; jnmp. . COvering the first lap in 64sec., thej .second in 66sec., the third in 69sec., and; ithe fourth in 71sec., making 4min. 30sec. for the first mile, Murakoso was at this stage well ahead of his co-marker, Savidan. When the winner's time was aunounced as 9min. 20 3-5sec., only twoixfths of a second. outside the New Zealand record, established by E. Eose in I 1.927, it was evident that, had Murakoso been at all pressed in the finhl stageS, he would have set new figures eomfbrt- ; ably. ; Togami, ranked among the finest jumpers in the world, gave a high-class ■ lisplay of broad jumping to attain a Jistance of 23ft. SJinfe., ohly 2|in. short uf the national record. Evidently not ,et properly settied after his rough it'ip from Sydney during the week, Tog- . mi experienced difficulty in striking ' iie take-ofE board aceurately. One of ! is ieaps carried him the rema~kable 'statice of 26 feet, but was disallowed ■i his foot was a fraction over the mark ..-lion he took bfi'* Ehythm ahd comdination of the tliree xuoveiilents were .iie most notieeable features of Tog- i .; iui\s hop, step and jiimpiiig, the power- | ioiiy-built Japanese giving a giimpre | a.- his calibre in this event by cieariiig j 16ft. lOHns. with his first offort. His second jump was even better, the dis'.once being 48ft. lOins., but was dis ■ilowcd on another technicality. -Togami ' 'spiayed his versatility by clearing the i-i at 5ft. 9jins. in the high jump. i