IJF Congress: New rules to be tested in WC Junior in Athens

The International Judo Federation Refereeing Commission announced one change in the rules of judo during the IJF Ordinary Congress in Rotterdam/NED, last Sunday (23 rd August). All techniques below the belt line will not be allowed anymore. Any athlete trying to grip the opponent´s leg will be punished with a shido (first time). If another try happens, he will be banned from the combat (hansokumake) and the victory will be given to the opponent. Only techniques using leg against leg will be allowed, or if the hand grip in the leg is the continuation of another technique tried (example: ouchigari which can develop into kataguruma).

“We don´t want our sport to be mixed with other martial arts. Judo is judo, and all IJF wants is to come back to the true judo”, explains the Head of the Refereeing Commission, Mr. Juan Carlos Barcos. “We may lose a few techniques with this decision, but on the other hand we will be awaking some techniques who we don´t see any more in the combats due to the sitting position the athletes take while they try to grab the opponents leg”, adds Mr. Barcos.

The IJF concern is that more and more often, wrestling and sambo techniques are seen during judo combats.

“That is not good for the future of our sport in the Olympic Games”, says Mr. Barcos.

This change will be tested during the World Junior Championships, to be held in Athens/GRE, in October 2009. If it is approved by the IJF Refereeing Commission, who will also argue coaches and athletes, it will become official rule for all IJF competitions.

The Refereeing Commission also announced that another step will be taken to modernize and professionalize the sport: the use of only one referee per mat (instead of three) is also to be tested in Athens during the World Juniors.

“This aims to raise the quality of the referee´s level. It is easier to find 20 good referees and to work to prepare them better and improve their skills than to have 40 referees at the same level in one time”, explains the Head of the Refereeing Commission.

But they are not to be left alone on the mat. Technology will be used even more than it is today to help them take their decisions and avoid mistakes. The IJF Refereeing Commission will continue to have live recording of all fights and will replay it as many times as necessary to clarify the doubts.

“We are currently using the video replay as a helping device in case of difficult decisions, since judo is a very fast and technical sport, which enables several techniques and has details that are difficult to see at once. In Athens we will have the referees using also head phones so that we can immediately communicate with them in case of need”, continues Mr. Barcos. “Our objective is to make judo more professional and the refereeing needs to be in a very high level as well”, completes the Head Director.

Another point observed is that with less two people per mat, the competition area will look cleaner for the public and for tv.

IJF Congress: Headquarters move to Lausanne. No proxies accepted anymore

In the presence of 108 countries, it was approved by the IJF Congress that the official headquarters from the International Judo Federation will move from Ireland to Lausanne. The Swiss city already hosts the seat of the International Olympic Committee and other 25 sports federations and organizations.

“We are already taking all necessary legal steps to make this important change”, says IJF President Mr. Marius Vizer, remembering that IJF will be able to establish a even closer relationship with the IOC.

Another important step taken in the Congress is the decision to abolish the proxies for the next Congresses.

That means, a country can only be represented in a official IJF meeting if an official representative is there. Until today, proxies were accepted what made one country have the right of four votes sometimes.

“This aims to avoid corruption and create a healthy democratic environment. It is very important for the future of judo”, highlighted Mr. Vizer.

IJF Congress: One million dollars for development and creation of Small Countries Worlds

When Mr. Marius Vizer was elected as IJF President in September 2007, there were no more than US$ 650 thousand in the IJF bank account. Less than two years later, IJF can say it has around US$ 8.5 million in the bank and several plans to use this money to develop judo in all continents.

In 2008, IJF has already invested around US$ 800 thousand in equipment (judogi and tatami) to help less developed countries. The donations were made for 27 different countries. But IJF will go further.

“Starting in 2010 we will have a sponsorship dividend distribution for National Federation. We will share one million dollars based on result, project, necessity and seriuosity”, explains IJF President Marius Vizer, adding that the IJF will also buy offices, which will remain IJF property, for the use of National Federations which still don´t offices.

The hard work towards the development of judo in all continents has already received US$ 630 thousand in education projects: US$ 245 thousand for 29 Coaching Projects, US$ 216 thousand for 17 Scholarships and US$ 167 thousand for 7 Development Projects.

The Sports Commission also decided to give participation points (2) for countries which took part in the Continental Championships.

“We will need the maximum number of countries with points in the World Ranking List to make them eligible for wild cards in the Olympic Games”, explains Head Sports Director.

For the Rotterdam World Championships, another innovation: 20 countries were invited by IJF to take part in the competition, with flight, accommodation, full board and participation fee under the IJF expenses. Kosovo will take part in a official World Championships for the first time and will compete as invited guest under IJF Flag, since the country has not yet been recognized by the United Nations.

“Our next project is to create a World Championship only for small states, countries with less than 1,5 million population. We made the research and there are ten European, 16 Oceania, 16 Pan-American, 1 Asian and 5 African countries in this situation, what makes altogether 48 nations”, reveals Mr. Vizer.