The host nation's judokas received a great boost today as Guo Huaping won gold in the Women's -48kg division at the Worker's Gymnasium on Sunday, September 7.

She beat Karla Cardoso (Brazil), Athens 2004 Paralympic silver medalist, by ippon. Guo never looked like she'd lose the final, throwing Cardoso for yuko to take an early lead. The Brazilian was unable to cope with Guo's aggressive play and the match ended after three minutes with the Chinese judoka throwing Cardoso for ippon.

Guo becomes the second female Chinese judoka to win Paralympic gold, following Xue Lanmei's success in the +70kg category in Athens 2004.

En route to the final, Guo beat Laura Garcia (Spain) by ippon but needed a points victory over the resilient Victoria Potapova (Russia).

Cardoso can add this silver medal to the silver she won in Athens 2004, also in the -48kg class. Earlier, she had beaten Yuliya Halinska (Ukraine) by ippon in the first round and then defeated the 2007 Para Pan-American Games silver medalist Maria Gonzalez (Cuba) by points to reach the final.

In the bronze medal matches, Potapova defeated Halinska with wazaari-awasete-ippon in a tight match, while Carmen Brussig (Germany) needed just 11 seconds to beat Cuba's Maria Gonzalez by ippon to secure the other bronze medal.

(BOCOG September 7, 2008)