Following the successful 77th EJU Ordinary Congress, part of the EJU delegates, including Vice President of Sport, Catarina Rodrigues; Assistant to Presidential Office, Toth Fanni and Head of Event Management and Broadcast, Janity Tibor, remained on the island to begin immediate preparations with a site visit ahead of the 2026 Cadet European Judo Championships.
EJU Vice President of Sport, Ms Catarina Rodrigues, explained more:
“After the Congress, representatives from the sport department, the presidential office and venue production began preparations for next year’s Cadet European Championships in Gran Canaria. We visited the arena, which is an excellent facility. It is used for concerts and official first-division basketball games, so it is a very high-quality venue. The field of play is particularly impressive.
“We will be able to implement formats, such as having four mat-sized field of play, that make the competition days shorter and more comfortable for everyone. We also visited the support areas and in terms of the venue, we have all the conditions in place to host a high-quality continental championship, exactly as we aim to do.
“We then visited all the hotels proposed by the local organisers. We identified the best solutions for accreditation, the draw, weigh-in and pre-event training facilities, always aiming to make the logistics as comfortable as possible for our athletes.
“I believe our cadets will truly enjoy the experience in Gran Canaria. From the EJU’s perspective, we were very pleased with the visit and with the level of preparation carried out alongside the local organising team. We are already looking forward to returning to Gran Canaria.”
Gran Canaria has previously hosted continental championships, notably in 2019 when it staged the European Veterans and Kata Championships. Next year, the island will welcome the youth, the next generation of athletes to inspire and be celebrated.
Author: Szandra Szogedi