Any talk of potential success is almost done, early skirmishes are building to serious exchanges of fire and the first official day of Asian Games competition on Sunday will launch some to global stardom or merely enhance the reputation of those destined to be the best.
There is little surprise in the names of several athletes who are expected to shine in Japan, with China’s swimming starlet Yu Zidi already being talked about as an Olympic champion in waiting.
Others, such as Singapore’s rising gymnastics star Amanda Yap still need that signature medal, despite her Commonwealth Games success, while Alexandra Eala has opted to skip the mandatory China Open to represent the Philippines on the tennis courts of Nagoya, a move that can only further her burgeoning popularity in the basketball and boxing mad country.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, already knows about the potential within its cycling ranks, while at least one of the city’s triathletes needs a big performance to overcome the asterisk, in this case one signifying “what if”, that would be planted next to any career record.