The Japanese team has only won four of the 16 golds in judo matches of the
Doha Asian Games, far away from its expectation. Japanese media pointed out on
Thursday that Japan is losing its ground on judo, which had been an advantageous
program for Japan to seal gold medals in world competitions.
The Japanese judo team did not show its vigor and its mediocre performance in
the Asiad resulted in a fiasco, the Industrial and Economic Daily said.
Three of the four Japanese gold-medallists in judo games are oldies and the
new ones have not demonstrated their potential and fit, the report said,
expressing concern over the prospect of Japanese judo.
The World Daily attributed the defeat to the unsatisfactory performance of
the new blood, who lack experience, quick responding ability and critical
technique.
Describing Japanese judo as declining ever since the Athens Olympics, the
newspaper saw the road for Japanese judo to the Beijing Olympics being shadowed
with dark clouds.
