{"id":13624,"date":"2012-07-16T22:07:16","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T22:07:16","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-07-16T22:07:16","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T22:07:16","slug":"Japan-football-women-get-cheaper-plane-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=13624","title":{"rendered":"Japan football women get cheaper plane seats"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is up with this? Exxxxcuse me?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan’s world champion women footballers have kicked up a fuss after being left in economy class while their male colleagues lived it up in business on a flight to Europe for the Olympics.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s right!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The gold medal hopefuls of Nadeshiko Japan flew in premium economy on the Paris-bound Japan Airlines flight while the nation’s under-23 men’s team — medal outsiders — sat up front on the same plane.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where are the gentlemen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I guess it should have been the other way around,” World Cup heroine Homare Sawa, 33, told Japanese media after arriving in the French capital on Monday.<\/p>\n

Sawa, the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, will be the oldest Japanese footballer in London.<\/p>\n

The men’s Olympic football competition is played out among under-23 teams with each of them allowed to have three over-aged players. There is no age restriction on the women, but few teams comprise only professionals.<\/p>\n

Sawa, who will be taking part in her fourth and possibly final Olympics, said a solid performance in London might boost the chances of an upgrade on the way home.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“When we won the World Cup, our seats were changed to business class for our return flight,” she said. “I hope we can produce a good result again and be treated the same way.”<\/p>\n

The Japanese Olympic Committee allotted economy class seats to London-bound Japanese Olympians, except for physically large athletes in judo and other sports.<\/p>\n

Star athletes often upgrade their tickets with the help of their sponsors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Japan Football Association has helped change the tickets for men to business class since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in consideration of their full professional status.<\/p>\n

For the London Games, the association upgraded the women’s tickets one notch to “premium” economy class in recognition of their status as potential medallists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nadeshiko — named after a pink flower that symbolises femininity and grace in Japan — will open their campaign against Canada on July 25, in a group that also includes Sweden and South Africa.<\/p>\n

The United States, who lost to Japan in the World Cup final<\/strong>, will play France on the same day before taking on Colombia and South Korea in their bid for a third straight Olympic title.<\/p>\n

Source AP<\/em>
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