Passive Japanese judo pair disqualified in final

BERLIN: There was an embarrassing twist in the men’s heavyweight final of the Duesseldorf Grand Slam as both Japanese judoka were disqualified for being too passive.

No gold medal was awarded in the men’s +100kg final in bizarre scenes on Sunday night. Olympic silver medallist Hisayoshi Harasawa and Japanese compatriot Takeshi Ojitani, both 25, were so attack-shy in the final that both were disqualified.

“Our team deemed this contest unacceptable,” explained refereeing chief Juan Carlos Barcos. “There was no intention to fight from either.“This is what we decided as there was no judoka worthy of winning in the +100kg final.”

Harasawa was fighting for the first time since his shock exit in round two of the World Championships last September, where Ojitani had exited in the third round. Both were looking to redeem themselves in Duesseldorf, but their bout in the Grand Slam final, the last contest of the competition, degenerated into farce.The Japanese pair both ended up with silver medals while the top step on the medal rostrum was left empty and no winner’s national anthem was played.