Asian tigers roaring in own martial arts
AFP, Nov 2, 2010, 08.37am IST
TOKYO: Japan are ready to emphasise their comeback in judo by fielding seven world champions at the Asian Games where South Korea's supremacy in taekwondo is put to test by a new electronic scoring system.
The other traditional Asian-born martial arts of wushu and karate are also marked with increasingly tough competition while struggling to secure a future place in the Olympics.
The Guangzhou Asian Games give Japanese judokas, who won a record 10 gold medals at the world championships in Tokyo in September, a chance to avenge their humiliation.
At the 2006 Doha Games, Japan failed to top the gold medal table for the first time since 1986 when South Korea grabbed six golds against Japan's two as judo made its Asiad debut in Seoul. The women's competition debuted in 1990.
China won five golds, all in the women's divisions, in 2006 while Japan took two men's and two women's titles and South Korea grabbed four men's titles.
Japanese men further suffered from a record-low Olympic haul of two medals in Beijing in 2008 and an unprecedented title drought at the 2009 world championships before this year's four-gold comeback.
"It's going to be quite a tough battle," Kazuro Yoshimura, technical director at the All-Japan Judo Federation, told AFP.
"Central Asian countries are getting stronger while South Koreans are obsessed with gold medals which could exempt them from military service," he said. "Hosts China will surely go for it in the women's game."
The Japanese men's team features Daiki Kamikawa, who beat French giant Teddy Riner in the open-weight final in Tokyo, denying him a record fifth world title.
On the women's team is Mika Sugimoto, who won the world over-78kg and open titles by beating Qin Qian in the absence of another Chinese Tong Wen who dominated the heavyweight since 2005 but was banned for doping in May.
The centuries-old Korean fighting sport of taekwondo is experiencing a change in its scoring system after a judging controversy in Beijing threatened to kick it off the future Olympic programme.
The 2009 world taekwondo championships became the first major tournament where competitors were required to wear electronic sensors in the body armour and the socks so that effective kicks are detected more objectively.
But the new system has forced fighters to learn how to adjust their body movements and have the foot sensors hit the body sensors to score.
"The system has changed so it's hard to predict how we will do," South Korea's Asiad coach Ryoo Byung-Kwan said.
"But one thing for sure is that it has become harder for Korean players who are not used to the new system."
South Korea have maintained their taekwondo supremacy since winning seven out of eight men's titles on offer at the sport's Asiad debut in 1986. The first women's competition was held in 1998.
In Doha, South Korea won nine out of 16 gold medals, including five men's. China trailed with three golds, all in women's events. Iran, Taiwan, Jordan and Qatar each won one.
"We aim for a total of eight gold medals with the women beating China and the men beating Iran," said Ryoo.
His men's squad include Lee Dae-Hoon, who won the men's 63kg title at the 2007 Korea Open, and 2005 world 87kg bronze medallist Heo Jun-Nyung.
Lee Sung-Hye, the 2007 world women's 57kg champion, aims to defend her Asian Games title and Hwang Mi-Na hopes to add the 46kg Asiad title to her 2010 World Student Game gold medal.
China swept all wushu titles in 1990 when the sport was introduced at the Beijing Asian Games. In Doha, they won nine titles against one each for the Philippines and Malaysia.
Karate has been on the Asiad menu since 1994 when Japan won nine out of 11 titles. In 2006, Japan's haul stood at four against three for Iran and two for Kuwait in 2006. Vietnam, Taiwan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan won one each.
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