Glitch denies Woy Woy gold

A "technical glitch" has denied Woy Woy Judo Club gold medals at the Australian Masters Games, hosted in Adelaide on the weekend of October 7 to 9.

Organisers had "lost or deleted" Woy Woy's results and first place was awarded for the highest score that remained on record, according to club publicity officer Ms Lindy Simmons.

Woy Woy Judo Club assistant coach Mr Mike Griffiths entered in the judo kata competition to compete with partner Ernie Wakamatsu from Zenbu Judo Club, Olympic Park, on the Sarturday.

"Their performance was well tuned and they received the highest marks as well as the acknowledgement from the crowd," said Ms Simmons.

"Being the clear winners, they were left dumbfounded when they were not called to the dais for the Gold Medals," she said.

"The crowd showed their dissatisfaction at the announced winners."

"Even the winners questioned the results," she said.

"The organiser gave only an apology and offered Mike and Ernie a bronze medal," said Ms Simmons.

She said Mike was determined to achieve an actual gold medal on the Sunday.

This he did in the under-73kg division of the shia competition.

"Mike drew a bye first round then fought a first kyu brown belt by getting him to the ground, turning him over and holding him down," said Ms Simmons.

"Mike waited for the repecharge and came up against a third dan black belt in the final.

"Mike threw his opponent to score wazari (five points) and followed this through with another hold down to win the bout," she said.

This win put Mike in contention for the Commonwealth Championship Games Masters Division to be held in Wales in January next year.

Email, 17 Oct 2011 Lindy Simmons, Woy Woy Judo Club