A SUPREME Court judge yesterday ordered the Hongkong Judo Association to hold new elections for 12 of the 17 seats on the body's executive committee on August 12.
The ruling from Deputy Judge Yam sitting in chambers is the latest move in the power struggle that is threatening to rip the sport apart for the second time in eight years.
Rebels from the HKJA, with former chairman Cyril Wong Siu-ming at the helm, had sought the injunction for new elections in a bid to wrest power from association chairman Henry Shing Yuen-hing and president Samson Mak Yiu-cheung.
Last night, Wong said he was happy with the ruling. ''It was a fair decision and exactly what we had hoped for,'' he added.
Wong and business associate Jimmy Ng King-cheung formed their own hierarchy under the association banner after they were banned from seeking election to committee positions at the HKJA annual meeting last month.
Claiming to have the support of 29 of the HKJA's 52 member clubs with voting rights, Wong and Ng declared themselves the chairman and president of the association respectively.