Apologies of IJF for a referee decision in the heavyweight final

The International Judo Federation regrets the decision of the final between teddy Riner and Inal Tasoev and the IJF Refereeing Commission officially apologises deeply for its decision and informs that this kind of action shall be scored in the future, following the current judo rules.

In the final contest of the +100kg category of the 2023 World Judo Championships, between the athletes Teddy Riner (FRA ) and Inal Tasoev (AIN), there was one situation where neither the referee on the mat nor the IJF Refereeing Commission gave any score.

The attack of Teddy Riner in white judogi was blocked and countered by Inal Tasoev in blue judogi. The decision was to continue the contest, without awarding a score for the counterattack.

After the competition, taking into consideration the current refereeing rules and the opinion of judo experts, we find that a score for Tasoev’s counterattack could be awarded.

Also, the IJF Refereeing Commission analyses the shido and golden score situations, which we consider to be the result of an over tactical combat between judoka. In preparation for the IJF Congress in Doha, at the beginning of the year the national federations were asked to submit technical proposals but none were received.

We are constantly working for the improvement of the refereeing system in order to achieve maximum transparency and fair play and after each edition of the Olympic Games, we analyse and we reform all those refereeing aspects which need to adapt to the evolution of sport, those which maximise transparency and fair play.

Florin Daniel LASCAU

Armen BAGDASAROV

Ki-Young JEON