China's judo drought finally ends

After three days of disappointment, China's judo [ˈdʒu:dəʊ]柔道 team finally struck gold on the last day of the competition at the Asiad, thanks to the women's judoka柔道运动员.

Defending champion Liu Huanyan won gold in the women's open category while Wu Shugen beat Japan's Tomoko Fukumi during added time in the final of women's -48kg category.

"I was under lots of pressure because we didn't have any gold medals after the first three days," said Liu. "Most of the pressure I put on myself."

 

Fans had high hopes for China's judo team, which claimed five gold medals at the Doha Asian Game four years ago and three at the Beijing Olympics, but the team was unable to maintain those lofty [ˈlɔfti]极高的 standards at Guangzhou.

"No one is happy about only winning two gold medals on home soil," said head coach Fu Guowen, who was also a part of the team's glory days in Doha. "But I hope people understand our circumstances境遇."

 

About 70 to 80 percent of the national team's judoka retired after the Beijing Olympics, including all three Olympic champions 冠军, said Fu. The young Chinese team lacks international experience.

"We are definitely not the team we used to be," Fu said. "The team needs to grow up fast before the London Olympics in 2012."

China's 19-year-old Wang Hao missed out on a bronze medal on the last day of the competition after being defeated by Mohammad Reza Rodaki of Iran in the men's open category. It was the first time the teenager competed at the adult level.

"I was not prepared well mentally [ˈmentəlɪ]精神上，心理上," said Wang, who weighs 120kg. "It is very difficult to handle this kind of pressure."

Wang said his loss was due to inexperience at the senior international level.