The Japanese Olympic Committee has penalised four players on the men’s basketball team at the Asian Games for buying sex in Jakarta, a senior official said Monday.
Japanese delegation chief Yasuhiro Yamashita, speaking at a press conference in the Indonesian capital, said the committee has stripped the players of their national team membership and sent them home.
Following their game on Thursday, the players left the athletes’ village for a Japanese restaurant in a major entertainment district wearing their team uniforms. After dinner, they were solicited by touts on the street to go to a nearby hotel with women, and they went ahead with “such action,” Yamashita said.
“A day after our arrival here the Chef de Mission and other top officials told the athletes that they had to be role models in Jakarta,” Yamashita said.
“I deeply apologise to the Japanese people as the head of the delegation,” he added.
Japan are among the top seeds in the men’s basketball competition, and are due to play Hong Kong in their final group game on Wednesday, where a win could be required to ensure they progress to the last-eight.
The players were identified by the JOC as Yuya Nagayoshi, 27, Takuya Hashimoto, 23, Takuma Sato, 23 and Keita Imamura, 22.
Source: Japan Times