Jigoro Kano Cadet Judo Tournament attracts world leaders

Russian Federation President and IJF Honorary President Vladimir Putin and the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe both attended the Annual International Vladivostok Jigoro Kano Cadet Judo Tournament which was held under their patronage and were joined by the President of Mongolia, Battulga Khaltmaa, the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi and IJF President Marius L. Vizer.

Under the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum, Vladivostok, Russia, hosted the third international judo tournament named after Jigoro Kano.

The four-day event was also attended by All Japan Judo Federation and Japanese Olympic Committee President Mr. Yamashita Yasuhiro.

The well-known u18 event, is an annual feature at the Eastern Economic Forum which is aimed at further developing business ties between countries across Asia.

The competition retained the team format from last year, but it changed slightly, and the number of participating teams increased to six. In addition to the traditional participating countries - Russia, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia and China, athletes of the youth team of India took to the tatami in Vladivostok.

At the draw, held on the eve of the tournament, Olympic champion and IJF Hall of Famer Ezio Gamba noted the importance of the Jigoro Kano competition, not only in the light of the further growth of the skill of its participants, but also as a means of uniting representatives of different countries.

“Russia's Jigoro Kano tournament will provide an opportunity to compete in team competitions for athletes of those weight categories that are not among the official listings in the mixed team event and this is a very important point,” Gamba emphasized.

Five teams participated in the tournament of the girls' teams, who fought on a round-robin system. As a result, the victory in this type of program was celebrated by the team of Mongolia, having defeated rivals from South Korea in the final. The Russian team in the round-robin tournament won a fundamental victory over the Japanese team and eventually shared the third place with it.

“I think that a victory over Japan will give girls confidence in anticipation of the Cadet World Championships in Kazakhstan in September. This is a really significant result. All the girls fought, showed themselves. We have the opportunity to work out the identified shortcomings so as not to repeat such mistakes in the future. There are no victories without defeats. We know what to work on, and we will be better next time, ”says the mentor of the Russian national team Flora Mkhitaryan.

In the mixed team tournament event, five teams also battled for awards. The finals featured the national teams of Russia and Japan.

After four meetings, the scoreboard was equal at 2: 2. However, the Japanese claimed the last two contests and rightfully won the highest awards of the Olympic format tournament. Athletes from South Korea and Mongolia became bronze medalists.

The head of the Olympic Committee of Japan, Olympic champion and AJJF President Mr. Yamashita Yasuhiro handed out special prizes to the best fighters of the tournament.

The match for "gold" was between Mongolia and Russia. The Russians showed excellent judo, winning five meetings in a row. This “gold” helped the tatami owners to score enough points in the overall standings to equal the rivals from Mongolia and share first place with them. The third place in the absolute championship was taken by the Japanese team.

“I want to appeal first of all to our guests, to thank them for coming to Russia to participate in these competitions,” Russian Federation President Mr. Vladimir Putin said at the end of the tournament.