THE bitter power struggle within judo directly hit the players for the first time yesterday when the weigh-in for the Hong Kong Championships was delayed for more than an hour as rival officers fought over who should be in charge. Almost 100 youngsters entered for the kyo grade tournament tomorrow jammed the first floor corridor of the Queen Elizabeth Stadium waiting for the weigh-in to start as officials argued inside the committee room. ''We are innocent victims and we don't want to be involved in their war, we only want to play judo,'' said a 16-year-old boy who asked not to be named. ''This is not going to do judo any good and I may not even come on Sunday because there could be even more trouble.'' Last month the Supreme Court ordered a re-election of 12 of the 17 HKJA executive committee seats following a court injunction by rebel officials, but the incumbent party succeeded in having that decision suspended. The incumbent party, led by vice-president Samson Mak Yiu-cheung, insisted that their man Siu Tak-wong should be in charge of the weigh-in as he is the tournament director appointed by the ''executive committee''. But the five officials belonging to both sets of committees fighting for power, who side with the rebels, claimed they are the only legitimate officers, pending the court decision, and demanded to conduct the weigh-in. They wanted Chan Hung-wai to endorse the competitor identification cards after the weigh-in but Siu refused and withheld all the documents. The rebels then snatched the transformer from the electronic scale, putting the equipment out of action. The two sides argued for more than an hour and eventually the stadium management talked incumbent leader Mak into conducting the weigh-in in another room with a borrowed scale. The rebels then went and started their own weigh-in. Most of the youngsters took part in both weigh-ins to ensure they will not miss out on the competition, but the feud could make it a non-event as both sides are reluctant to give in. ''I'm afraid there could be more arguments on Sunday when weigh-in for the senior players who will be competing for places in the World Championship team, is held,'' warned rebel officer Chan.
