Dutchman Huizinga Wins at 90 Kilograms

Reigning world champion Hidehiko Yoshida went down in a heap, opening the door for Mark Huizinga to become a judo gold medalist.

Yoshida of Japan was defeated by Brazil’s Carlos Honorato in a preliminary match of the men’s 90-kilogram event Wednesday night and was taken to a hospital after apparently suffering a broken right elbow at Sydney.

Honorato advanced all the way to the title match, where he was defeated by Huizinga of the Netherlands. Frederic Demontfaucon of France and Ruslan Mashurenko of the Ukraine shared the bronze medal.

Sibelis Veranes of Cuba defeated Kate Howey of Britain to win the women’s 70-kilogram. Cho Min-sun of South Korea and Ylenia Scapin of Italy shared the bronze medal.

Huizinga won by ippon 3:22 into the final match.

“I just felt very cool,” Huizinga said. “I waited for the moment and dived in. I didn’t expect that the Brazilian would qualify for the Olympics.”