Judo president hits out at cycling chief

International Judo Federation (IJF) president Marius Vizer hit out atcycling counterpart Brian Cookson on Wednesday following comments the lattermade about moving judo to the Winter Olympics.Last week Cookson, who took over from Pat McQuaid as International Cycling Union(UCI) president last September, said that sports such as judo, badminton and cyclingcould be moved from the Summer Olympics to the Winter Games to ease pressure onthe traditional summer showpiece.Briton Cookson said he would be in favour of moving track cycling -- which like judoand badminton takes place indoors -- to the Winter Olympics if that could mean anincrease in the number of events and participants.But any suggestion that judo be moved from the more lucrative Summer Gamesearnt a comical rebuke from Romanian Vizer."I have always admired British humour and I can say now that certainly, the UCIPresident is not lacking it," said Vizer in a statement."In any case, as new President of an International Federation (namely theInternational Cycling Union), I wish Mr. Cookson good luck and I am available anytime to support him in better understanding the world sports movement and inavoiding press communications at times when he actually does not have anymessage to transmit."Last week Cookson said: "If you have a problem with Summer Olympics where thewhole thing is perceived as over-heated with too many facilities, too many sports, too many competitors and so on, why not look at moving some of the other sportsthat traditionally take place in the winter in the northern hemisphere indoors."So why not look at combat sports like judo, or other indoor sports like badminton,you could even say what about putting track cycling in the Winter Olympics?"If we moved track cycling to the Winter Olympics and that allowed us to have moretrack cycling events and more medals then that could be a pretty good outcome." Source: AFP