THE biggest event on the Hong Kong judo calendar is heading for a more dramatic confrontation off the mat than on it.
Officials are wrangling over who will take charge of the Hong Kong Open on Sunday at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium - a tournament which takes on added importance this year as it doubles as a selection trial for the upcoming world championships.
''We will be there on Sunday to take charge of the championships,'' says Lui Hon-wah, an executive committee member who has sided with a rebel group led by Wong Siu-ming trying to take control of the Hong Kong Judo Association.
But Henry Shing Hing-yuen, chairman of the incumbent association, says: ''For the sake of producing a smooth running tournament, we cannot let them take charge.
''They are too hot-headed and don't think carefully before they carry out actions, otherwise they wouldn't be making such ridiculous demands.'' The latest twist in judo's power struggle comes after Lui and three other rebels - Chan Hung-wai, Wong Po-kee and Lee Chung-tai - took part in a mini coup on Friday, entering the association's offices at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium and telling the staff that they were now in charge of the sport.
The four, along with Kan Wing-niang, are the only members of a 17-strong executive committee unanimously recognised as office bearers following the June 20 annual meeting. They were elected by both sides when an argument over eligibility of candidates ledto two separate elections being held. Both sides subsequently took court action.
''Until there is a court decision, the only people with the right to run the sport in Hong Kong should be the five of us,'' says Lui. ''Nobody else has the authority to organise open tournaments.'' The rebels won a Supreme Court ruling that there should be new elections for the 12 out of 17 places on the 1993-95 executive committee under dispute, but last week a court granted Shing's incumbent association the right to appeal.