The general perception is that judo is an individual sport, but the initiative taken to make it a team sport has been very much appreciated here.
On the last day of the Judo event at the 36th National Games, in a newly created team event, Manipur defeated Punjab by 4-2 and won the trophy.
It is surprising that in the presence of Olympians like Avtar Singh and many other international players on the Punjab side, it happened. Then, in the semi-finals, Punjab defeated Haryana, raising hopes for the final, but their bet against Manipur in the final was cancelled.
The mixed team concept was first introduced at the 2017 World Championship. Since then, Japan has won the trophy consecutively for four years. Similarly, a mixed team event was held for the first time at the Tokyo Olympics, where France defeated Japan and won the gold medal. This type of event was held for the first time in India in 2018 at the National Championship in Visakhapatnam, and it was also held for the first time at the National Games here.
In these matches, each team has three men, and the same number of women are on the side. If the score is tied (3-3), then the seventh match is organised and the weight category is decided by draw. This bout will be decided by golden score. The same was seen in the third place match on Wednesday when Haryana defeated Rajasthan by a golden score in the seventh match, making it very exciting.
Similarly, in the first four matches of the final, Punjab and Manipur were on an equal score, with Manipur winning the last three matches and taking the trophy.
The Judo Federation of India, technical officials associated with this sport, and in Gujarat, Judo fans love this mixed team format. All are focused on organising a league of Judo in India in the near future.