
Asian men can't sprint? Try seafood and a ninja's speed The Straits Times / AFP / August 20
.....Japan's Shingo Suetsugu will try to disprove the theory that Asians cannot sprint when the track and field programme begins today.
Suetsugu, the native of Japan's southern island Kyushu, is entered for the 100m and 200m sprints, as well as the 4x100m relay.
Conventional wisdom has always held that the limber, compact Asian body was better designed for sports that required dexterity and precision than track events like sprints and hurdles. Suetsugu appears to give credence to these stereotypes....
He said: 'I don't have a great deal of power to begin with. Compared to a black athlete, there's no competition.'
So he used anything that could give him that extra push, from high-tech spikes and aerodynamic suits to practising ancient techniques used by the samurai and ninja to move more swiftly through the streets of ancient Japan.
The 24-year-old credits a century-old practice called 'nanba', which allows him to sprint without kicking the thighs too high and producing speed with minimal energy output.

Taro: As all of you have seen samurai flicks, 'Nanba" is that silly scurrying like hamsters you see when the samurai or police come running to the rescue. It's ideal for not falling down in the mud paths of old Edo but useless in a sprint. I suspect Suetsugu-san is trying to psyche-out his opponents with the Secret Powers of the Mysterious Orient, hee, hee