Four marathoners will try to provide an encouraging finale to Japan's worse-than-expected campaign at the Asian Games.

Kiyoko Shimahara and Yuri Kano will run in the women's marathon on Saturday morning, followed by the men's race featuring Tomoyuki Sato and Yukihiro Kitaoka on the final day of the 16-day event.

"China's Zhou Chunxiu will run again. Four years ago, I allowed her to pull away early and run alone for the gold medal," 2006 Asian Games women's marathon runner-up Shimahara said on Wednesday.

"This time I'm ready to challenge her. I can't imagine what kind of race I'm going to face. I'll keep my eyes on the fast runners."

Zhou set a killer pace from the outset and never looked back before crossing the line in two hours, 27 minutes and three seconds in Doha. Shimahara finished in 2:30.34 and Japanese compatriot Kayoko Obata was four seconds further back in third.

Japan is struggling to collect gold medals and is almost certain to miss its target of 60 gold in Guangzhou.

"I know there are a lot of ups and downs on the marathon course," Kano said. "But I've trained hard on a similar course in Albuquerque (New Mexico). I'm sure I won't have any problems in Guangzhou."

- The Mainichi Daily News (Japan)