TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese Olympic Committee held a launch ceremony for the host nation's Tokyo Olympic delegation on Tuesday, with the majority of the staff and a record-high 582 athletes participating online amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

       Japan's team captain, men's sprinter Ryota Yamagata, vice-captain and women's table tennis player Kasumi Ishikawa, and one of Japan's flagbearers, women's wrestler Yui Susaki, were the three athletes out of six participants at the ceremony held in the capital.

       JOC President Yasuhiro Yamashita, Chef de Mission Tsuyoshi Fukui and Mitsugi Ogata, the Japan team's general manager, were also present where they sat masked, apart from each other in the well-ventilated hall, with the presenter asking attendees to refrain from singing when the national anthem was played.

       "I take pride in being selected to represent Japan for the Tokyo Olympics held in our country, and will head to the games with a sense of awareness and responsibility," Yamagata said, as around 800 delegation members watched online.

       "With hosting the games under question during the coronavirus pandemic, I've always been thinking about what we can do, and what is the meaning of sport."

       "What we can do now is to approach our competitions sincerely and give our best. I believe in the power of sport and pledge to fight through with all I have as a member of Team Japan."

       Japan is targeting 30 gold medals this summer, nearly double its best of 16 at the 1964 Tokyo Games and the 2004 Athens Games.

       Japan's previous largest delegation, in 1964, included 355 athletes.

       Concerns continue to shroud the games, postponed from last summer amid the pandemic, with Tokyo among the areas under a quasi-state of emergency. It remains a possibility that spectators will be banned from some events.

       "Sports connect people in a world divided by the coronavirus pandemic," Yamashita said, while Fukui claimed Japanese athletes' inspiration and courage would "live on in people's hearts as a source of hope."

       In a video message, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga emphasized that Japan would "take appropriate infection countermeasures to allow athletes from around the world to take part safely."

       Tennis star Naomi Osaka also provided a statement for the ceremony, confirming her participation at the Olympics after withdrawing from the French Open citing a bout with depression and also missing the Wimbledon championships currently under way.

       "I'm proud to be taking part representing Japan...I will be giving my best at the Olympics," she said. "It took me a lot of courage to open up about my mental health situation. I believe this is an issue I will have to keep dealing with."

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