Four Vietnamese athletes left on Monday for the World Judo Championship that will kick off today at Tokyo\'s Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

Judo artist Van Ngoc Tu.

Nguyen Thi Lan will compete in her first match on Saturday in the women\'s 57kg division. Southeast Asian queen Van Ngoc Tu will fight in the women\'s 48kg division. Ho Ngan Giang and Huynh Nhat Thong will represent Viet Nam in the men\'s 60kg division.

The Vietnamese judokas participated in a one-month intensive training course in China and competed in the Judo World Cup in Mongolia in late July.

Vietnamese judokas hoped to collect points that would give them a berth at the London Olympics in 2012, said the National Sports Administration\'s judo department head Nguyen Huu An.

The world event is a warm-up opportunity for the upcoming Asian Games in China in November.

The Vietnamese athletes will compete in the Southeast Asian Judo Championship at the HCM City\'s Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium on September 22-26 after returning home from Tokyo. Viet Nam is viewed as the regional powerhouses in judo after their dominant performance at the 25th SEA Games last December in Laos where they won 18 medal sets in both combat and performance events. — VNS