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| Japan avenge 2001 disaster at World Judo Championships
OSAKA, Japan, Sept 11 (AFP) - Japan brushed off their shame from 2001 by grabbing three of four gold medals at stake on the opening day of the World Judo Championships here Thursday, dashing European hopes along the way. Sydney Olympic champion Kosei Inoue, the only Japanese men's medallist at the last championships in Munich, dumped all his five opponents by perfect "ippon" throws to lift his third straight light-heavyweight (under-100kg) title. BizVantage – Serious & personalized business, investment and technology intelligence for a serious advantage. China's Sun Fuming, emerging from the shadow of retired compatriot and Olympic and world champion title-holder Yuan Hua, stopped Japan's monopoly and added the women's heavyweight (over-78kg) world title to her 1996 Atlanta Olympic gold. Noriko Anno won her fourth straight women's lightweight heavyweight (over-78kg) title, as Cuban Yurisei Laborde was penalised for passivity and a false attack in a lacklustre final, giving hopes that she can end her Olympic medal drought in Athens next year. Japan's chubby Asian Games heavyweight champion Yasuyuki Muneta outpointed Dennis Van Deer Geest by the virtue of the Dutchman's penalty for a false attack with 24 seconds left in the over-100 kilogram final. "We made a flying start but the event has just begun," Japanese men's coach Hitoshi Saito said. "I hope the other competitors will follow the example of going for ippon until the end." Japanese judokas are aiming to emulate their 1999 world championship performance when their men and women won four golds each. In 2001, Japanese women came home with three titles, including bantamweight (under-48kg) Ryoko Tamura's unprecedented fifth straight world title. She is going for world number six here on Sunday. Inoue threw down Frenchman Ghislain Lemaire with a spectacular hip throw less than two minutes into the under-100 kilogram final as the hometown crowd chanted, "Kosei, Kosei. Kimetekure (finish him off.)" The easy victory was sweet and sour for the 25-year-old Japanese because it showed that he could go on to triumph in the open category three days from now, and earn himself a place in the history books. But after long debate, Japanese judo chiefs have determined it would be too much for him to become the first judoka to strike gold in both the light-heavyweight and open classes at the same world championships. Several judokas have achieved the heavyweight-open double, including Japanese legend Yasuhiro Yamashita in 1981, Frenchman David Douillet in 1995 and Russian Alexandre Mikhaylian in 2001. The verdict was partly due to Inoue's loss to Keiji Suzuki at the national championships last April. "I have proven that I am physically able to do it and I will seek techniques for that purpose," said Inoue, who sports a crew cut like a Buddhist monk. "I will be one size stronger," he said, adding that he would take time in deciding whether he would step up to the heavyweight. Inoue stretched his unbeaten record in the world championships and the Olympics to 21 straight wins, 19 of them by ippon mostly through his favourite uchimata, or the inside thigh throw. Lemaire, who beat Inoue at the prestigious Kano Cup in Tokyo five years ago and shook him with a leg throw in a losing match at the World Cup team tournament last year said: "I feel content with my defeat because Inoue was so strong. "But he is not a superman, he is like everybody else," the Frenchman said. "So I'll do my best in our next match." sps/rmj/gj03 Judo-world
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