It keeps surprising me still how unnoticed huge events are like the Judo world championship. Despite all the seats being taken at Rotterdam for the event of the year, the media does not pay much attention. The rules and the complexity of the sport is of course a major factor behind the relatively low popularity of Judo. It not as easy to understand as for example golf or tennis, nor is it as exciting for the uneducated viewer.
Check out the results here. Outside the sports world, many of the names are unknown. Russia has improved its performance taking one gold, one silver and one bronze. An improved result from the Bejing games but still there is room to improve.
Ivan Nifontov won the under 81kg category taking gold. Etsio Gamba, Russia's mens coach says that there is still have room to improve with Alexander Mikhailin and Tagir Haybullaev potentially able to take medals but showing disappointing performances this time around. It looks like Etsio has done well to return the Russian team to success.
The biggest surprise of the tournament no doubt has been the disappointing performance of the Japanse men's team, which took only one silver medal in the under 60kg. This is the worst performance in the 59 year history for Japan.
Overall, no doubt about it, this year Japan, South Korea and France were the countries with the strongest judo athletes. In each country, Judo is extremely popular, and it is not a surprise to see such an outcome. Most noticeably is perhaps China, which keeps climbing up the Judo ladder and no doubt as Chinese Judo grows, we will see some young new talent from over there.
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