Snowboarding: Japanese men dominate podium in World Cup halfpipe

Japan swept the podium in the men's halfpipe at the snowboard World Cup event on Thursday, with Ayumu Hirano, Raibu Katayama and Yuto Totsuka finishing first, second and third.The trio respectively registered point totals of 97.75, 90.75 and 90.50, while Naito Ando (88.75) finished fourth and Taku Hiraoka (77.25) seventh to round out Japan's domination of the event at the Secret Garden resort.The victory continued a return to winning form for Sochi Olympic silver medalist Hirano, 19, who won his first World Cup halfpipe event in four seasons earlier this month in Colorado.With the start of …READ FULL ARTICLE