Pin-up girl Miwa Asao has a tough fight ahead of her if she is to reach the Beijing Olympics, but she has already succeeded in setting off a new craze in Japan for beach volleyball.
Nicknamed "the fairy on the beach," the 21-year-old has juggled her sporting ambitions with success as a fashion model and television personality.
More than 20,000 copies have been sold of her ?1,995 (US$17.40) book of racy photos -- with editions bearing her autograph selling for 10 times as much.
PHOTO: AFP
But Asao, who stands a well-built 172cm, insists she does not like being called a "fairy."
"A fairy has an immaculate image, but I get more suntanned than other people, so I always feel uncomfortable about it," Asao said of the nickname.
She said she also questions whether she can continue modeling as her volleyball career takes off.
"I often wonder if it's all right because I'm doing a lot of work with my weight and body to become more muscular," she said. "But I can't help it, because my ultimate goal is to keep winning in beach volleyball."
But there is no denying that her celebrity has boosted interest in the sport.
Asao caused a sensation when she played in the Tokyo Open in May. Crowds packed the free event, as well as a footbridge and an observation platform 150m away from the court.
Some 68 media companies covered the competition, which is usually a small event on Japan's sports calendar.
The organizers prohibited spectators from taking Asao's picture, leading to a skirmish when police hauled away one fan who snapped photos of Asao.
"I hadn't expected it to attract so many spectators. It will be more popular next year because of the Olympic qualification," Kazumasa Hariya of the Japan Beach Volleyball Federation said.
"We had only 300 seats this year. We must increase it to 1,000 next year," he said.
But Asao, teaming up with Takemi Nishibori, failed to live up to expectations by finishing third -- living up to their reputation as "the regular third placers."
"When we play against foreign teams, we have to hit hard, but when we play Japanese teams we need more technical tactics. That's why sometimes it's difficult against a Japanese team," Asao said.
But Asao has set her aims beyond just winning a domestic tournament.
"My goal is to take part in the Beijing Olympics," Asao said.
Hailing from Japan's western Mie Prefecture, Asao's manager hatched a plan to turn her into a volleyball star as well as television personality.
Asao started playing on the World Tour last season. She made it past the qualifying round for the first time this season in Espinho, Portugal.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on Tuesday said that he would leave the English club at the end of the Premier League season, marking an earlier-than-planned departure for one of the club’s greatest-ever scorers and soccer’s biggest names. The 33-year-old Egypt forward, who has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for Liverpool, “reached an agreement” to quit the team a year before his contract was due to expire, the Premier League champions said. Salah’s form has dipped in his ninth year at Anfield, to such an extent that he was dropped for a stretch of games late last year — leading to the
There were some big games to be played yesterday in the NBA, with the Atlanta Hawks to play the Detroit Pistons in a matchup pitting a Hawks team who are rolling against a Pistons team trying to lock up the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Oklahoma City Thunder were to play the Boston Celtics, a showdown featuring the two most recent champions, while the Houston Rockets faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game that could factor mightily into Western Conference seeding. Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards were to play the Utah Jazz, with the Wizards on a 16-game slide visiting against a team
RSS