BEIJING, Aug 16: A record-low medal haul in Olympic men’s judo has stung Japan into toughening their stylish approach against the swelling ranks of doggedly unorthodox fighters from the rest of the world.

Japan had always won at least four men’s medals of different colours each time since the Japanese-born sport made its Olympic debut at home in the 1964 Tokyo Games — even when the number of titles on offer was fewer.

But this time around Japanese men ended up with just two medals, although both gold, from seven divisions with Masato Uchishiba retaining his -66kg title and Satoshi Ishii triumphing in the +100kg divison.

All the others fell before the third round and failed to win even a bronze through the repechage.

“We must review our style of judo itself,” Japanese men’s coach Hitoshi Saito said. “We need to start all over again in systematic training from the junior level.”

Ishii’s victory in the showpiece heavyweight category on the final day only emphasised the coach’s words as the rising star uses the kind of grappling techniques favoured by Eastern Europeans in deviation from Japan’s upright classical judo.

“We will still aim for gold medals in all divisions. That is for our pride. Without this determination, Japanese judo will lose its basis,” stated Saito, a double Olympic heavyweight champion (1984, 1988).

In the -100kg first round, Keiji Suzuki, who won the +100kg title in Athens four years ago, succumbed to a takedown tackle by the eventual winner, Tuvshinbayar Naidan of Mongolia, who has also practiced Mongolian-style wrestling.

The coach pointed out that winners in Beijing were all eager to grapple their opponents “no matter what” to go for an ippon, the perfect execution of a technique which automatically stops the bout as a knockout does in boxing.

But Saito was still unsure about how they can revamp their approach.

Over the years, Japanese judokas have been bothered by Europeans who fought with low tackles and other wrestling-like tactics and were determined not to let their opponents grab them by the collar and sleeve, the classical grip.

Another worrying factor for them is a decline in the number of children practising judo at home. There are 200,000 registered judo practitioners in Japan, against some 600,000 in France.

But Ishii, the 21-year-old two-time national champion fighting here in his first Olympics or worlds, has broken out of the old mould.

He once descried judo as a “brawl guided by rules” and more so than all but Uchishiba of his male team-mates he managed to adapt to the Eastern European brawling methods to reach the top step of the podium.

But while men’s coach Saito wants to learn from the Europeans, women’s coach Nobutoshi Hikage seemed to suggest that the Japanese could still be successful with their brand of upright judo.

The Japanese women’s team came away more proudly with five medals from seven divisions — two gold, one silver and two bronze.

Ayumi Tanimoto and Masae Ueno retained their -63kg and -70kg titles with the former winning all her fights by ippon.

“Tanimoto performed attacking judo with determination. She has displayed the essence of Japanese judo,” stated Hikage.

It seems that Japan is in a state of confusion more than anything else, unsure how to recapture the dominance that had them feeling so proud in Athens four years ago.—AFP