Four players from Japan’s men’s basketball team have been sent home in disgrace from the Asian Games in Indonesia for spending the night with women in a Jakarta hotel.

Delegation head Yasuhiro Yamashita told a news conference that the players left the athletes’ village following their game against Qatar on Thursday to eat at a restaurant where they met a Japanese-speaking local, who told them about a bar where they could meet women.

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The quartet, who were wearing their team uniforms, spent a couple of hours at the bar before checking into a hotel with four women, staying there until Friday morning, Yamashita added.

Officials named the players as Takuya Hashimoto, Keita Imamura, Yuya Nagayoshi and Takuma Sato.



“The Japan Olympic Committee decided to withdraw their accreditation and send them back to Japan early this morning.



“We have a specific disciplinary code, it’s a clear breach of the code of conduct for the Japanese delegation. The athletes should be role models of society, not only in the sporting venues but also on other occasions.”

Yamashita said the Japanese Olympic Committee took the issue of discipline in their team very seriously. The next Olympics will be hosted by Japan in Tokyo in 2020.

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“A day after our arrival here the Chef de Mission and other top officials told the athletes that they had to be role models in Jakarta,” he said. “It’s disappointing that after that instruction and encouragement, this kind of issue happened, I deeply apologise to the Japanese people as the head of the delegation.”

Yuko Mitsuya, chairwoman of the Japan Basketball Association (JBA), also apologised for the incident, which she described as “disgraceful”.

“As athletes representing Japan their actions were unspeakable, and there is no excuse for their indiscretion,” she said in a statement posted on the JBA website. “We do not have all the details yet, but we will conduct interviews with the players involved and report later about how they will be punished.”



At the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, swimmer Naoya Tomita brought embarrassment to Japan when he was caught on surveillance cameras stealing video equipment from a journalist. He was later fined by a South Korean court and banned from competition for 18 months by the Japanese swimming federation.



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Japan, who won basketball bronze at the last Asian Games four years ago, beat Qatar 82-71 in their second game in Jakarta and top qualifying Group C. Their next fixture is against Hong Kong on Wednesday, with the squad reduced to eight players.

“The players flew back home at their own expense,” Yamashita added. “The remaining eight players, officials and coaches will stay here to continue to play for the rest of the competition.”