TOKYO, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The historical victory by Chinese twins Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting in the synchronized swimming competition in the Asian Games in Doha aroused great attention from the Japanese media, which said China is gaining formidable power in the field and Japan is facing an emerging strong rival in Asia.

The Japanese combination Saho Harada and Emiko Suzuki failed to lead Japan to its fourth Asian Game title in the program, the Yomiuri Shimbun said on Saturday. Japan has sealed gold for three consecutive games ever since synchronized swimming was included into the Hiroshima Asiad in 1994.

The strength of Chinese synchronized swimming will become "formidable", the newspaper quoted Japanese sports officials as saying.

The tremor engendered by the silver medal of Harada and Suzuki will last long, the Tokyo Shimbun said, predicting that China's uprising in the field will wage great influence on Japan's technique, strategy and preparation for big games.

The Japanese synchronized swimming team has to think about updating the motion designing and look for better training method, the report said.