By Tom Degun

London 2012_judo_test_event_December_3_2011December 4 - International Judo Federation (IJF) President Marius Vizer has warned that while the London 2012 Olympic judo test event went well, more work is needed if the competition is to be a huge success at the Games next year.


The two-day competition was staged at the ExCeL in London's Docklands and saw the women compete at -57kg and -70kg while the men competed at -73kg and -90kg.

Viser said the event was a great taster for the Olympic judo competition but revealed that there were problems and that some changes will be required for next year.

"Major effort still needs to be done to improve the broadcast standard for television [for the London 2012 Olympics] as well as the quality of the scoreboards, knowing that the system that will be used here is not the one we are used to monitor during our own events," said Vizer.

"It is important to have large display screens in the venue, that will help the entire technical staff to be more efficient, and that will give to our viewers the opportunity to follow action from different angles while benefiting from the slow-motion pictures.

"They will have the advantage of being in the venue and vibrate with our champions, while following the matches as if they were at home."

Vizer also said that the 10,000 spectator capacity that will be offered during the Games should have been increased as there was huge interest in the competition.

"With more consultation, we probably would have been able to optimise the number of spectators," he said.

"Today, we are not entirely sure that the audience will be the one we are used to during all our events and we do not know exactly who will be in the tribunes.

"Reaching new spectators is important and necessary, but today the demand is such that we are probably below what we could have proposed."

But despite the criticism, Vizer said that that "the judo tournament of the London 2012 Olympic Games will be an extraordinary worldwide event and that all the ingredients for a great success are present."

In the event itself, Shirley Elliot of France took gold in the women's -57kg category while Nozomi Hirai of Japan took silver and the two bronze medals went to Sophie Cox of Britain and Nora Gjakova of Czech Republic.

In the Women's -70kg, Brazil's Maria Portela took gold, Sally Conway of Britain the silver and Clarisse Habricot of France and Yuko Imai of Japan shared the bronze.

Bruno Mendonca_wins_London_2012_test_event_December_3_2011
In the men's -73kg, Brazil's Bruno Mendonca (pictured in white) took gold, Turkey's Hasan Vanlioglu the silver and Gesualdo Scollo of Italy and David Dubsky of the Czech Republic the bronzes.

In the men's -90kg, Hugo Pessanaha of Brazil took gold, Kamil Magomedov of Russia the silver and Matthew Purssey of Britain and Norihide Yamanmoto of Japan shared the bronze.

At the same time that the Olympic judo test event took place, the taekwondo test event also took place at the ExCeL while goalball - the first Paralympic test event - also took place over the weekend at the Handball Arena in the Olympic Park.

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