Judo to use 'replay technology' to avoid errors

KARACHI: Judo sport in London Olympics will use replay technology for the first time in order to minimize errors.

The sport has suffered from scandals due to the difficult nature of sometimes scoring a bout. The most notorious case was the men’s heavyweight final in Sydney 2000 when Frenchman David Douillet defeated Japan’s Shinichi Shinohara.

Now the International Judo federation Refereeing Director Juan Carlos Barcos said, “That’s why we (use technology to) evaluate and make a fair decision. I don’t think it can happen (again) but you never know.”

Traditionally, the referees and the two corner judge view the situation and give the score.

However, this time where there is any conflicting incident referee can refer to the refereeing commissions to check the incident on replay technology for the more accurate decision. If there is no clear evidence no one will be given any points.

“We’ll use two cameras, one each side (of the mat) so it will be very difficult to make a terrible mistake. This is very important for our sport and it must be the best intention for refereeing. It’s difficult to do, but we must do it,” Barcos quoted.