Photo/Illutration The Japanese men’s team that won the bronze in the 4x100 meter relay at the World Athletics Championship in Doha in October receives an award in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Dec. 16. From left, Yuki Koike, Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, Yoshihide Kiryu, Kirara Shiraishi and Shuhei Tada. (Ryo Ikeda)

Choose to compete in either the 100-meter or 200-meter races at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and save your legs for the 4X100-meter relay event.

That's the choice the Japan Association of Athletics Federations is racing toward asking its male sprinters, as it seeks to secure a gold medal in the relay.

The association on Dec. 16 announced a plan to force male competitors aiming to represent Japan in the 100-meter and 200-meter races to choose between the two.

“Our national team members for the 100-meter and 200-meter races are expected to run in the 4x100-meter relay event as well,” the association stated in a draft regarding a qualification standard for the Olympics.

“Considering the race schedule and resulting physical burden on the runners, (the association) will, in principle, limit an athlete to participate in one individual event,” it proposed.

The draft was revealed at an administrative board meeting in Tokyo that day.

The board deferred deciding on whether to approve the draft, saying it will listen to opinions from the Tokyo 2020 Athletes’ Commission and runners themselves before discussing whether to incorporate the proposal in the selection criteria.

If the draft is approved, top sprinters such as Abdul Hakim Sani Brown and Yuki Koike, who have set the goal of representing Japan in both the 100-meter and 200-meter races, will face a tough decision.

It would also mark an unprecedented and controversial case in the sports world.

“It runs the danger of restricting athletes’ rights under ordinary circumstances,” said Kazunori Asaba, the association's development director, expressing concern.

However, he added: “We have the best chance to win a gold medal in the men’s 4x100-meter relay. So we want (the runners) to limit themselves to run in only one individual event and go for broke in the relay event.”

Asaba also said the association has taken the tight schedule for short-distance track and field events at the Tokyo Games into consideration before making such a proposal.

Japan won its first-ever silver medal in the men's 4X100-meter relay at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and a bronze in the event at the World Athletics Championship in Doha in October.

Sani Brown insists that the possibility of having to choose does not change his goal for the Olympics next year.

“I have done my best to practice every day to win a medal in an individual event,” said the 20-year-old sprinter, who passed up the 200-meter event and ran in the 100-meter race and 4x100-meter relay at the World Athletics Championship in October.

“For me, an individual event comes first and a relay event is secondary,” Sani Brown said. “My motivation increases when I can run in both the 100-meter and 200-meter races.”

Koike, 24, who competed in the 100-meter and 200-meter races and also in the preliminary 4x100-meter relay event in Doha, said, “I think (the association) should make a decision based on individual consultation rather than imposing a rule over the entire team.”