Japanese Sports Briefs

Jan 2, 2009 - 4:16 PM (Courtesy of Kyodo News Service) TOKYO, Jan. 2 Kyodo

---------- Soccer: Former Nagoya Grampus manager Hiraki dies at 77

NAGOYA - Former Nagoya Grampus Eight manager Ryuzo Hiraki died early Friday morning after losing a battle with severe pneumonia, the J-League first-division club said. He was 77. Hiraki, who was in charge of Grampus in the professional J-League's inaugural season in 1993 and also played for Japan at two Olympic Games, passed away at 1:03 a.m. at Toyota Memorial Hospital in Aichi Prefecture.

---------- Athletics: Kashiwabara helps Toyo win 1st day of Tokyo-Hakone ekiden

HAKONE, Japan - Anchor Ryuji Kashiwabara produced a stirring run in the final leg to lead Toyo University to its first ever first-leg title in the Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden road relay on Friday. Kashiwabara stormed back from ninth place in the fifth and final leg as he and his four teammates completed the 108-kilometer course from Tokyo's Otematchi district to the spa resort of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture in 5 hours, 33 minutes, 24 seconds.