Two of judo’s rising stars are raring to revive an epic East-West rivalry as Japan looks to youth and experience to restore their pride in a sport they gave to the world.
Satoshi Ishii, a Japanese national champion who has never fought on the big stage, and 19-year-old world champion Teddy Riner of France will battle for the over-100kg heavyweight gold, the most prestigious Olympic judo honor.
“No doubt Riner stands out as a great wall. It’s hard to guess how much he may have grown in half a year,” Japanese men’s head coach Hitoshi Saito said after the teenager’s triumph in the blue-ribbon Paris tournament last February.
PHOTO: AP
A possible showdown between Ishii and Riner in Beijing will revive memories of the fierce heavyweight rivalry between the two judo superpowers.
In the 2000 final in Sydney, David Douillet retained his Olympic title with a narrow points win over then world heavyweight and open-class champion Shinichi Shinohara.
Japan vainly protested after the referee failed to recognize a sophisticated counter-attack which could have made Shinohara the winner.
Shinohara earlier lost to the French hero on a dubious decision in the 1997 world championship final in Paris.
They both retired before the 2004 Athens Games where Keiji Suzuki regained the title for Japan by beating Russian Tamerlan Tmenov.
In Beijing, Suzuki fights in the under-100kg class in which he was the world champion in 2005.
“Judo is a brawl guided by rules,” said Ishii, 21, who beat Suzuki at Japan’s national championship in April to win his first-ever spot in the Olympics or the worlds.
“I will desparately go for the gold medal. The result is all I care about. How I fight is secondary,” he said.
Relatively small at 108kg and 181cm, Ishii is famous for his no-holds-barred style which has displeased purists for whom perfect execution of techniques is imperative.
Riner, a master of dynamic leg throws at 129 kg and 204cm, said: “I have only Beijing in my head and I now know what needs to be done to be ready.”
The Caribbean-born Riner, also last year’s European champion, was advised by Douillet when he beat Tmenov to become the youngest-ever world champion at 18 in Rio De Janeiro last September.
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