European Judo Open M&W - Prague, Czech Republic
The weight of expectation was heavy. Current world champion Lukas KRPALEK (CZE) had been in this position before. Just three months ago, when the European Championships had been staged in Prague, Krpalek had missed out on a medal. The loss remains a matter of deep disappointment for him and a…
1 March 2021European Judo Open M&W - Prague, Czech Republic
It is never easy when a youngster sets out to launch an international career. Of course, there are exceptions. But, it follows that success early on, tends to attract attention. 20-year old Emiel JARING (NED) will be attracting attention after his first appearance at a senior European Open that resulted…
28 February 2021European Judo Open M&W - Prague, Czech Republic
The capital of the Czech Republic has already welcomed the judo family once since lockdown for a successful European Championships in 2020. So we can confidently look forward to welcoming over 300 athletes for the Prague European Open this weekend between the 27th and 28th of February. Though the IJF…
24 February 2021Judo is more than a sport. Sally Conway of Great Britain couldn’t have put it any better. Yesterday, the European, World and Olympic medallist announced her retirement from competition which was met with countless well wishes and dedications to the -70kg athlete. Sally has clearly made an impact on the…
23 February 2021Nicola Tempesta, who passed away at 85 years old, was considered an outstanding figure within Italian judo. He competed in the heavyweight division and in the Open Championships, where through European Championship competitions he had won nine medals. This includes two gold medals (1957 and 1961) together with ten Italian…
22 February 2021Azerbaijan are a country with many great judoka, predominantly in the men’s categories, with some of the younger women on the rise on the international scene. We are used to seeing a great battle in the -73kg category between friends Rustam ORUJOV and Hedat HEYDAROV but now we look to…
22 February 2021Grand Slam - Tel Aviv, Israel
The third and final day of competition at the Tel Aviv Grand Slam saw Romane DICKO (FRA) take the gold medal in the +78kg category. In a powerful and commanding display Dicko continued where she left off at the Doha Masters last month to pick up her second Grand Slam gold. …
21 February 2021Grand Slam - Tel Aviv, Israel
There is a famous expression that “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” That was certainly the case on day two of the Tel Aviv Grand Slam as all but one of the top seeds failed to take gold. That lone number one who managed to end the…
20 February 2021Grand Slam - Tel Aviv, Israel
Day one of the Tel Aviv Grand Slam saw European athletes take all five of the gold medals on offer and, whilst it was a good day for Europe, things did not by any means go the way that many had anticipated. Strikingly, not one of the number one seeds…
19 February 2021European Judo Open M&W - Prague, Czech Republic
Despite the lengths both the IJF and EJU along with their partnering national federations have gone to in order to ensure the safety of the athletes during the pandemic, in the past there has been some doubt. However, these feelings are slowly disappearing. Athletes from around the world are currently…
18 February 2021Olympic Games - Tokyo, Japan
We are delighted to announce that the selections for Olympic and Paralympic referees includes 15 of our European representatives. The following have been listed for the Olympic Games: Mr Vladimer NUTSIBIDZE (GEO) Mr Raul CAMACHO (ESP) Mr Veli-Matti KARINKANTA (FIN) Mrs Roberta CHYURLIA (ITA) Mr Matthieu BATAILLE (FRA) Mr Evgeny…
16 February 2021Grand Slam - Tel Aviv, Israel
There is a matter of only a few days before the next stage of the IJF World Tour gets underway with the Tel Aviv Grand Slam. Lining up in search of qualification for the up-coming Olympic Games in Tokyo will be a number of athletes for whom qualification is made…
15 February 2021Grand Slam - Tel Aviv, Israel
The focus for the next stage of the IJF World Tour moves to Tel Aviv whose status has been upgraded to that of a Grand Slam. Beginning Thursday 18th for three days the Shlomo Arena will once again play host to some of the best judoka in the world. It is…
15 February 2021This week the European Judo Union and European University Sports Association (EUSA) held a virtual meeting to discuss the partnership of the two bodies which has been ongoing since 2019 when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed. The meeting held on the 9th of the February was an opportunity to…
11 February 2021The Dutch have 15 athletes qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, with some still fighting for a place against their team mates, but one name already secured on the roster is Tornike TSJAKADOEA. Not your typical Dutch name, Tsjakadoea’s parents actually moved to the Netherlands 26 years ago from…
10 February 2021Thought the majority of the Dutch team have already been selected for the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, three weight categories remain in a head to head battle at home. One of these is the -70kg between Kim POLLING and Sanne VAN DIJKE. The more senior Polling fell behind in…
8 February 2021In 2016, Kosovo took hold of the women’s lightweight spotlight, Majlinda KELMENDI taking the first Olympic medal for Kosovo, gold at that, in Rio de Janeiro. However, four years later, we’re all talking about the success of an -48kg athlete, the great potential of Distria KRASNIQI. Distria’s judo story began…
6 February 2021New to Telegram? Join the judo community! This week, the instant messaging service, Telegram announced that it had surpassed 500 million users worldwide, this month alone, 90 million downloaded the app to stay in touch with their nearest and dearest or get the latest news from their favourite judo union!…
5 February 2021