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DOHA: Japan’s soccer affiliation mentioned Thursday (Feb 1) that winger Junya Ito has left the Asian Cup in Qatar following media experiences that two girls had accused him of sexual assault, a declare he denies.
The JFA mentioned Ito was leaving “out of consideration for his psychological and bodily wellbeing”, including that there have been differing accounts of the alleged incident in Osaka final yr.
“Junya Ito is leaving the Japan group competing on the Asian Cup in Qatar,” it mentioned, including it was treating the case with “warning”.
Japanese police have launched an investigation into the 30-year-old, who performs for French membership Reims.
Ito has performed 54 video games for Japan, scoring 13 objectives.
“We obtained a prison criticism towards him and have began an investigation,” a police spokesman in Osaka working within the division protecting crimes together with sexual assaults advised AFP.
He declined to present additional particulars together with what the criticism was about.
The alleged incident was mentioned to have taken place at a resort in Osaka in June final yr after a pleasant between Japan and Peru, media experiences mentioned.
Ito has denied any wrongdoing, the Kyodo Information Company reported, quoting his lawyer as saying the claims had been “completely unfounded”.
Whereas Ito did spend time with the 2 girls, their accounts are inconsistent and there’s no bodily proof supporting their allegations, Kyodo quoted the unnamed lawyer as saying.
Ito was named in Japan’s match-day squad for his or her Asian Cup last-16 sport on Wednesday towards Bahrain however was an unused substitute in a 3-1 win.
The JFA mentioned Ito wouldn’t get replaced within the squad.
His membership Reims mentioned in a press release it took the allegation critically however Ito “stays a full member” of the squad.
“The human qualities and behavior of the Japanese attacker have by no means needed to be questioned by the membership,” it mentioned.
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