JUDO: Australia’s Ivo Dos Santos suffered a crushing defeat in his Under-66kg elimination bout this morning against Great Britain’s Colin Oates.

Oates fed off a vocal home crowd to dictate terms in the five-minute bout, securing the win with a sumigaeshi throw, late in the bout.

Consecutive penalties against Dos Santos mid-way through the fight proved costly for the Australian, putting him behind on the scoreboard with 43 seconds remaining.

After the bout the 26-year-old Melbournian lamented missed opportunities to utilise his strength advantage.

“Even though we were probably 50/50 in a lot of the grips, I let him dictate the pace and pull me around a little bit,” Dos Santos said.

“If I’d actually stood toe to toe, physically I felt I was stronger, but I sort of let him have the 51 to 49 in that area and it bit me in the bum.”

Dos Santos’ coach, Tom Hill, said the Englishman was always going to be a tough proposition in front of a parochial home crowd.

“It’s his first time on the big stage,” Hill said of Dos Santos.

“He’s fighting a Brit in England and it’s very difficult... the crowd was pumped.

“He’s walking out there and it’s relatively quiet and then all of the sudden the roar comes - you’re going to get nervous.”

“It’s a baptism of fire for him, that’s for sure.”

Dos Santos' loss follows Arnie Dickins’ exit yesterday but hopes are high for the remaining Australian team members yet to fight.

Tomorrow Carli Renzi will take on either France’s Automne Pavia or, in what would be a chance for Australia to get one back over their old rival, Great Britain’s Sarah Clark.

Fellow Aussies Mark Anthony, four-time Olympian Daniel Kelly and Jake Andrewartha are all in action later next week in respective U90, U100 and +100kg divisions.

Doug MacDougall in London
olympics.com.au