RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Japan's bid to return to the top at the Olympics is off to a sloppy and slippery start.
Bedeviled by uncharacteristic mistakes all over the place — from defending champion Kohei Uchimura falling off the high bar to world floor exercise champion Kenzo Shirai stepping out of bounds during his set — the Japanese hardly looked like a dominant force as it slogged through men's preliminary qualifying on Saturday morning.
While Japan is hardly in danger of missing Monday's eight-team final after posting a score of 269.294, they know they need to be sharper — much sharper — by Monday evening.