TOKYO, April 15: Athens Olympic 800-metre freestyle champion Ai Shibata failed to qualify for the Beijing Games in the women’s 400m at the Japanese national swimming championships on Tuesday. Shibata, the world bronze medallist in the 400m last year in Melbourne, clocked four minutes 10.38sec, far slower than the bottom qualifying line of 4:08.43.

Yurie Yano came in second in 4:11.56 and Chika Yonenaga third in 4:11.76.

The opening day of the six-day championships saw three swimmers qualify for the Olympics, including Saori Haruguchi and Maiko Fujino in the women’s 400m individual medley and Takeshi Matsuda in the men’s 400m freestyle.—AFP