Japanese soft tennis men's head coach Kita Moto said Tuesday that they will charge at South Korea and Chinese Taipei in the Asian Games soft tennis tournament to be running from Dec. 2 to 8.

"I will try to obtain the gold medal this time and beat South Korea and Chinese Taipei," said Moto after the Japanese had a training session at the Khalifa Soft Tennis Courts in Doha, Qatar.

"I am confident that the Japanese players have high potential to win. Their performance has improved a lot since the last Asian Games.

"If we can play with original skill and technique as usual, we will be able to win."

In the last Asiad in Busan, South Korea, four years ago, the hosts had a clean sweep of all seven golds, plus three silvers as well, beating the Japanese to second place triple times. Chinese Taipei claimed the remaining silver in mixed doubles.

"The team had six training camps this year to prepare for the Asian Games. Each camp was almost a week long and I tried to challenge them on every kind of technique, skill and tactic required to succeed," Moto added.

At the end of the 19th century, tennis was introduced to Japan by a western missionary, and was later modified for the Asian physique. A special racket and ball were developed, and the game became known as soft tennis.

The Doha Asian Games soft tennis competition includes both team and individual events. The ball, made of rubber, is filled with air and is quite soft, and thus, can be hit extremely hard. This is one of the charming features of the fast-moving, yet precise game.

"Compared to previous Asian Games, this one has more younger players who are playing for the first time. The younger players are feeling the pressure, but they are enjoying themselves," said Moto.