At the 9th Far East Games, 515 athletes will participate in ten events including track and field, swimming, basketball, volleyball, football, tennis, baseball, hockey, boxing, gymnastics, etc., and they will also be divided into men and women. In fact, there are not many athletes participating in each event.

For example, in football, there are three games, China vs. Japan, China vs. Philippines, and Japan vs. Philippines, which is equivalent to playing a group round-robin match.

The same is true for several other collective events. Major events like track and field are not as lively as the domestic National Games.

In the 100-meter sprint event, there were only nine contestants participating in the competition, including three in China, Japan and the Philippines.

The Chinese team is short of funds and cannot afford to participate in the competition, while Japan and the Philippines, affected by the Great Depression, have no money to send more athletes.

There are only nine contestants, and the competition is only preliminaries and finals. The preliminaries are divided into two groups, and each group advances to the finals first, which means that only four contestants participate in the finals.

There is no way to do this. There are only five runs to Meiji Shrine Outer Garden Stadium, and the innermost runway is still along the lawn, so this runway can only be used temporarily.

According to later standards, there are nine tracks in the standard stadium. In the 100-meter sprint race, the innermost track is not used. The athletes start from the second lane and arrange them outward.

The sports stadiums of this era are not the standard sports stadiums with nine tracks in later generations. For example, the Minyuan Stadium in Tianjin has only five tracks, and the innermost track is close to the lawn. Even in the finals of the Olympic Games, there are only seven or eight tracks, which are generally for six athletes to participate in the competition at the same time.

The 100-meter preliminary round was arranged on the afternoon of the opening ceremony. At the end of the opening ceremony, the 100-meter preliminary round group was announced first.

In addition to Chen Qiang, there are two Filipino players and one Japanese player in the group.

The other group has five people, two Japanese players, two Chinese players and one Filipino player.

Judging from this group, Chen Qiang's group is the second in the Four Jin Dynasties, while the other group is the second in the Five Jin Dynasties. It seems that Chen Qiang's group has taken advantage of it, and the other group is more difficult to advance.

But in fact, it is just the opposite. Chen Qiang's group is more difficult to advance, while in the other group, the two Japanese players advanced almost without pressure.

Let’s look at Chen Qiang’s group, that Japanese player. Chen Qiang has never heard of his name before, so he doesn’t think he is a very strong player.

The other two Filipino players, one is James, who is the champion of the 100-meter sprint in the last Far East Games. The other is Steve, who is the number one in the Philippines trials. In other words, these two are the strongest players in the Philippines.

In the past eight Far East Games, the 100-meter sprint championships were won by the Philippines team, and the Americans' track and field level was still higher than that of Asian athletes. Therefore, the strongest among the Philippine teams is equivalent to the strongest in Asia.

Chen Qiang is now at the top level in Asia. In other words, Chen Qiang's group gathers three top Asian players, and there are only two places to advance, so the competitive pressure is particularly high.

In contrast, in the other group, the best results of the two Chinese players in the 100-meter market are outside 11.5 seconds, so there is definitely no hope of advancing. The Filipino player is only the third player of the Philippines team, and his strength is definitely slightly inferior.

The remaining two Japanese are Kenjiro Okamura and Tadaehiro Minami.

Chen Qiang once saw the name Kenjiro Okamyo in newspapers. Last year, a Sino-Japanese and German track and field competition was held in the Northeast. Kenjiro Okamyo represented the Japanese team in that competition. In the competition, Kenjiro Okamyo lost to Liu Changchun. It was also in that competition that Liu Changchun ran 10.8 seconds, tied the Asian 100-meter record at that time.

(See Chapter 30 for details)

Another player of the Japanese team is the legendary Japanese athlete Takatoshi Yoshioka.

Takato Yoshioka was the first Japanese track and field player before World War II. He won the 100-meter sprint championship at the Japan Land Athletic Conference six times and broke the Asian record three times in his career. According to Japanese records, Takato Yoshioka drew a 10.3-second world record in the Minamikakoyuan Sports Field in 1935.

Ryude Yoshioka participated in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and successfully advanced to the final of the 100-meter sprint. Although Ryude Yoshioka was only the last in the final, he was the first Asian in history to enter the final of the 100-meter sprint of the Olympics.

It is worth mentioning that Takato Yoshioka was an athlete who had been hit by the atomic bomb. In August 1945, Takato Yoshioka taught at Hiroshima Higher Normal College. At that time, he was only 10 kilometers away from the explosion center of the atomic bomb. Although he was seriously injured, he was lucky to survive.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Yoshioka Ryude was the most famous 100-meter sprinter in Asia. His international reputation and achievements were better than Liu Changchun. In the future, Japan had a comic depicting track and field sports, and the prototype of its protagonist was Yoshioka Ryude.

So although this group is the second place in the Five-State League, the strength of Yoshioka Takato and Kenjiro Oka is obviously better than the other three. The so-called Five-State League can be regarded as a guide to two Japanese players to advance to the finals.

It is obvious that this grouping is beneficial to the Japanese team. The first group has the strongest players from China and the Philippines, and the players have to fight desperately in the preliminary round. However, the second group, the two aces from the Japanese team were directly submitted without any effort.

Chen Qiang had no choice but to accept this unfair grouping. There was no way. This was Japan's home court. Of course, they had to give their athletes a favorable grouping, which was also a tacit behavior in sports competitions.

In the future World Cup, isn’t the host also going to advance in the group stage? This is normal operation. If you are shameless, you can blow away the free throw and the goal, and you can reach the semi-finals with the referee’s strength.

"The preliminaries in a while are really a tough battle!" Chen Qiang sighed lightly. It seemed that he was about to show his real skills in the preliminary round.

...

On the rostrum, Gu Sansanwu sat in a very front position. As the first person in Japan's sprinter and the current holder of Asian records, Gu Sansanwu naturally attended the Far East Games.

"Gu Sanjun, you have been working in the Manchurian Railway. You should have some understanding of Chinese athletes, right? Why not introduce it to us?" A thin man next to him said.

The thin man is named Kiyoichi Kiyoichi, and he is the president of the Japan Sports Association.

After being named after Kishi Qing, Tan Sanwu did not dare to neglect and immediately introduced: "There is still a big gap in track and field in China compared to ours, but China also has strong athletes. For example, the 100-meter sprint race is about to begin. There is a player named Liu Changchun in China who is very strong. He defeated Kenjiro Oka last year and tied my Asian record."

"Oh? Are there such a strong athlete in China? It can actually tie Gu Sanjun's Asian record!" An Qingyi said as he looked at the list of contestants in his hand, and then continued: "The list of contestants in my hand does not have Liu Changchun's name. It seems that this strong athlete did not come to participate in this competition."

Someone next to him immediately explained: "President An Qing, according to the news we have received, Liu Changchun did not participate in this Far East Games due to injury. Among the athletes in China who participated in the 100-meter sprint this time, the strongest one was their National Games champion, and the best result was 11 seconds!"

"Is it just 11 seconds? That's not enough to worry. We just need to pay attention to the situation in the Philippines." Kishi Qingyi said.

While several people were talking, the four players who participated in the first group of the 100-meter sprint preliminary round had already stood on the track.

Gu Sansanwu stretched out his head and saw Chen Qiang at a glance.

"That athlete looks familiar. Where have I seen him?" Gu Sansanwu frowned and recalled carefully.

The last time Gu Sansanwu met Chen Qiang was nine months ago. Although the time was not long, with the memory of ordinary people, it is impossible to recognize a stranger he met nine months ago immediately.

What's more, Chen Qiang's results at that time could not even run in 12 seconds. It was still far from participating in the Far East Games at such a level, so Gu Sansanwu didn't think about that direction at all.

"I must have seen this person, but I can't remember it." Gu Sansanwu's brows became tighter and tighter.

"Gu Sanjun, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?" someone next to you asked.

"I'm fine, thank you for your concern." Gu Sansanwu nodded slightly at the other party, expressed his gratitude, and then turned his attention to the runway.

At this time, the four contestants had already bowed themselves and prepared to start.

Chen Qiang's unique starting posture instantly came into Gu Sansanwu's eyes.

The starting posture from the future is different from the starting posture of this era.

Seeing Chen Qiang's starting position, Gu Sansanwu immediately remembered what happened when he was at Fudan High School nine months ago.

"It's him! A middle school student from Shanghai Fudan High School!" Gu Sansanwu's face changed drastically in an instant.

—————
Chapter completed!