Chinese Tong Wen won the first gold medal at the world judo
championships, taking the women's over 78kg title in Rio De
Janeiro, Brazil Thursday evening.
Tong defeated Olympic champion Maki Tsukada of Japan in the
first of the four gold-medal bouts on the opening day.
"I am very happy to win the third straight gold medal at the
world championships," Tong told Xinhua, adding that she has won all
five meetings against the Japanese.
"This year's championships is the biggest international meet
prior to the Bejing Olympic Games," said Tong, "And it's
very important for us to know better of our rivals in the Olympic
tune-up."
In the other three finals, Teddy Riner of France defeated
Russian Tamerian Tmenov to win the men's over 100kg crown, Cuban
Yurisel Laborde won over Japanese Sae Nakazawa with an ippon in the
last five seconds to take the women's 78kg title.
Brazilian Luciano Correa beat British Peter Coucins to award the
hosts their first gold in the men's 100kg category.
The championships will run through to September 16, with the
participation of some 800 judokas from 120 countries and regions.
All top five finishers secure the tickets to the Beijing Olympic
Games.
(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2007)