Beijing Olympic Games

Judo-Naidan wins first gold for Mongolia

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By Ian Ransom

BEIJING, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Tuvshinbayar Naidan clinched Mongolia’s first Olympic gold, defeating Askhat Zhitkeyev of Kazakhstan in the final of the men’s 100-kg judo competition in Beijing on Thursday.

The Mongolian posted three scoring throws to outclass Zhitkeyev, each time using brute strength to pick his opponent off the floor and roll him on to his back.

Conceding 5 inches to his opponent, Naidan played to his strengths, diving low and barrelling into Zhitkeyev’s legs to force him off balance.

Two minutes into the bout, the tactic paid off handsomely, with Naidan slinging Zhitkeyev across his shoulders and tossing him on his side to post a high waza ari score.

With the wind taken out of his sails, Zhitkeyev allowed himself to be thrown twice more for low scoring uko, leaving the result beyond doubt.

Azerbaijan’s Movlud Miraliyev beat Przemyslaw Matyjaszek of Poland to win a bronze, throwing him to the tatami to post a high waza ari score.

Henk Grol of the Netherlands overcame the disappointment of his narrow semi-final loss to Zhitkayev, prevailing over Georgia’s Levan Zhorzholiani in the other bronze decider. (Editing by Alison Williams) (For more stories visit our multimedia website “Road to Beijing” at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)