Speaking on the final day of individual judo action here, Vizer, who is also President of SportAccord, the umbrella organisation for Olympic and non Olympic International Federations, spoke of his delight at the level of competition on display, which shows a "good sign for the future", he claimed. 

"We can be really happy with the level of the competition and it's a good sign for the future," he said.

"For sure, we have seen here in Nanjing some of the future world and Olympic medallists.

Vizer, who took the helm of the IJF in 2007, does, however, believe that a higher quota of judoka at the Games would provide an even higher level of competition, benefitting not only the sport, but also the Youth Olympic Games itself.

"In order to be representative of what judo looks like today, the International Olympic Committee do need to reconsider the number of athletes that can participate in the Youth Olympic Games in our sport," he said.

"With a little bit more than 100 competitors, we cannot have all weight categories represented and even with the eight weight classes that are present, it's difficult to determine who can take part or not.

"If this number is raised up, the competition level will increase and this will be for the benefit of judo, of the Games and of sport."

There are 103 judoka competing here in Nanjing across eight weight categories, half as many as are competed at during a World Judo Championships ©IJF



There are currently 103 judoka competing here in Nanjing across eight weight categories, four for men and four for women, and a mixed international team event.

The athletes all qualified via the 2013 IJF Cadet World Judo Championships in Miami, with the top four placed athletes from each of the 16 weight categories gaining automatic qualification, should they satisfy the weight categories of the Youth Olympic Games.

The problem for Vizer, and the IJF, is that eight of the 16 weight categories usually seen at a World Championships were forced to be dropped for the Youth Olympic Games with over five times less competitors here in Nanjing than would be seen at a World Championships.

The lack of a number of weight classes means that many competitors are not eligible to compete at the Games, with judoka from both the heavy weight classes, over 100 kilogram and over 78 kilogram, not even considered in the selection process.

The individual judo competition proved a universal medal fest here in Nanjing with the eight gold medals going to judoka from eight different countries.

In total 26 nations were represented on the podium out of a possible 31 medals distributed across the events.

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