TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan is aiming to win more medals than ever before at their home Asian Games next month in Nagoya, chef de mission Kosei Inoue said Wednesday after the team’s inauguration ceremony.

Japan’s biggest Asian Games haul came the last time they hosted the multisport spectacular, winning 218 medals including 64 golds in Hiroshima in 1994.

Japan is sending more than 1,400 athletes and officials to this year’s Asian Games, which take place in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area from 19 September to 4 October.

Inoue, a former Olympic champion in judo who also won Asian Games gold in Bangkok in 1998, said he had high hopes for this year’s crop of athletes.

“We won 218 medals at the Hiroshima Asian Games, so in that sense it’s a very high hurdle,” he said.

“But we want to do everything we can to at least match that level and, if we can, surpass it.”

Japan finished second in the medal table in China’s Hangzhou in 2023, winning 188 in total, with 52 golds.

That figure was dwarfed by the host nation, who topped the table with 383 medals, including a whopping 201 golds.

“The level in Asia, with China at the center but also further away in Central Asia, has really improved,” Inoue said.

“More and more Asian athletes are thriving on the world stage.”

Japan’s team for the Asian Games includes Paris Olympics champions Shinnosuke Oka in gymnastics and Haruka Kitaguchi in javelin.