Newz Forum: OLYMPICS: Japan wins gold and silver in judo

Athens, Greece (AP) - Japan continued to impress in Olympic judo as Masato Uchishiba won the gold medal in the men's under 66kg category, while Yuki Yokosawa captured the silver in the women's under 52kg category.

Japan has four medals in judo events in the Athens Games already, as Tadahiro Nomura won the gold in the men's under 60 kg event, and Ryoko Tani got first- place in the women's under 48 kg.

Jozef Krnac of Slovakia won the silver in the men's event, while Georgi Georgiev of Bulgaria and Yordanis Arencibia shared the bronze.

Dongmei Xian of China was the gold medal winner in the women's competition, while Amarilys Savon of Cuba and Ilse Heylen shared the bronze.

In other news relating to the sport, the International Judo Federation (IJF) is starting an investigation into whether world champion Arash Miresmaeili deliberately failed to make the weight for his opening match so he wouldn't have to face his Israeli opponent, Ahud Vaks.

Iranian team officials initially said Miresmaeili did not want to fight in a competition against Israeli fighters as he sympathized with the Palestinian cause.

This is not uncommon, as in the past, other Iranian judokas have declined to fight against Israeli athletes. At the Judo World Championships in 2001, Mahed Malekmohammadi didn't want to fight Yoel Razvozov, while in 2001 Masoud Haji Akhoundzade didn't battle Zvi Shafran.