International Judo Federation cancels all tournaments

The Executive Committee of International Judo Federation (IJF) held an online meeting on November 11 to discuss the future of judo tournaments until the end of the year. The authorities decided to cancel all official tournaments planned this year. International judo tournaments were delayed or canceled due to COVID-19 until the Grand Slam in October. The IJF was planning the resumption of judo activities around the globe with the Zagreb Gran Prix in Croatia.

Most countries are facing the second wave of COVID-19 and training gyms are being closed by the decisions of their respective governments. Accordingly, the IJF decided to cancel all tournaments.

The federation is planning to resume judo activity with the Doha Masters in Qatar, which was supposed to be held in May 2020. It will see 77 judokas challenge their strength, speed and wit in 2021.

IJF President Marius Vizer said, “It is a hard decision to take, especially after such a successful and joyful event as the Hungary Grand Slam was held a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we can see most countries of the world fighting hard to prevent the pandemic from getting out of hand and the safety of the judo family comes first. Once again, we must be resilient and respect the efforts of governments in order to preserve the safety of the global population. The IJF team will now focus on organizing the Qatar Masters in January and we hope that we will be able to bring together the international judo community in Doha to mark a fresh start of judo in 2021 with the best athletes of the world competing for Olympic qualification.”