Japan started its campaign at the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics with strong silver-medal efforts from alpine sit skiers Momoka Muraoka and Taiki Morii as competition moved into full swing Saturday.

A day after leading the Japanese team into Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony as the flag-bearer, Muraoka picked up Japan's first medal of the games when she finished behind world champion Anna Schaffelhuber of Germany in the women's sitting downhill event.

Shortly after at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre, Morii, making his fifth straight Paralympic appearance, earned his fourth silver in as many games in the men's sitting downhill after silver-winning performances at Turin (2006), Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014).

Their achievements bode well for Japan's hopes of improving on the six medals it won at the Sochi Games.

Morii will look for his elusive first gold in his other races over the 10-day games, while Sochi gold medalist Akira Kano will try to redeem himself in Sunday's super-G after a disastrous downhill showing which saw him fail to reach the finish line after crashing.

"I had the line I wanted, but the snow was rough and I got pounded. I've been preparing for this race for the past year, so yeah, I'm disappointed," Kano said.

American Andrew Kurka won gold, while Takeshi Suzuki finished ninth as he gears up for his preferred events, the slalom and giant slalom.

Hiraku Misawa finished 15th in the men's standing downhill.

At Alpensia Biathlon Centre, Keiichi Sato finished ninth in the men's 7.5-kilometer standing biathlon.

Yurika Abe was ninth in the women's 6-kilometer standing biathlon, while Momoko Dekijima finished 13th.

In the sitting event, Nonno Nitta, a former wheelchair marathon athlete and Paralympic debutant who began shooting just a year ago, finished 13th with a broken left ski after falling on her third lap.

"I was nervous, but I could hear people cheering me on and that kept me going," she said.

In Japan's first men's para ice hockey match, host South Korea was much too good, winning 4-1.

After a goalless first period, South Korea's Jang Dong Shin netted to put the home team in the lead 6 minutes into the second, but it was not until the third stanza that the game got into a flow.

Third-period goals by Jung Seung Hwan, Cho Young Jae and Lee Hae Man put the match out of reach and only a 42nd-minute effort by Kazuhiro Takahashi put the Vancouver 2010 silver-medalist Japanese on the board.

"I think the opening game is the key to the whole campaign," team captain Satoru Sudo said. "We go on to face (three-time gold medalists) the United States tomorrow, so we really wanted to win today. It's disappointing."