Japan's Kamiji Secures Wheelchair Tennis Silver at Asian Para Games

Nagoya, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)--Japanese wheelchair tennis player Yui Kamiji failed to win a third straight Asian Para Games singles gold medal on Thursday but secured silver, at the ongoing competition being held mainly in the central Japan prefecture of Aichi.

In the women's singles final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games, Kamiji, 32, lost 6-1, 7-6 to China's Li Xiaohui, the wheelchair singles winner at this year's Australian Open.

Kamiji, who became the first Japanese woman to achieve a career Golden Slam this year, was apparently unable to perform well throughout the Asian Para Games. "I regret my lack of coordination," she said while noting that the defeat "will be a good opportunity to think about my skills."

Also in wheelchair tennis, Japan's Tokito Oda, 20, and Daisuke Arai, 38, clinched gold in the men's doubles event. Oda advanced to Friday's singles final.

Oda said that the doubles gold put him "in a positive frame of mind," adding, "I want to fully enjoy and play tennis like dancing (in the final match)."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]