Hungary IJF Masters ready for important judo qualfier

The 2023 World Judo Masters in Budapest is one of the most important qualifiers for the judoka. The Papp Laszlo Arena will be filled with the best athletes in the world. On Thursday the draw was conducted in the presence of EJU and Hungarian Judo Association President Dr Laszlo Toth, Hungarian Judo Association Vice President and Olympic champion Antal Kovacs and Hungarian National Coaches Miklos Ungvari and Akos Braun among other IJF guests.

The top 36 of each category will participate to be crowned ‘world master’ and gain those important points on the road to the Paris Olympic Games. Hungary completed its event strategy organizing the last piece of the puzzle. It organized World Championships in all age categories, European Championships and now the IJF Masters.

László Toth, IJF Vice-President, EJU President and President of the Hungarian Judo Association followed by saying, "behalf of the Hungarian Judo Association, it is a great honour for us to welcome the best judoka to the Masters 2023, in Budapest, Hungary. After 2017 and 2021, two successful world championships, for our federation it is a great pleasure to once again organise a top event for the judo world. We are very proud that in this competition 14 Olympic champions and 36 world champions will participate."

"I am really happy. Together with my team, together with the IJF team, I am convinced that it will be an unforgettable competition for everybody and I hope that many judoka will collect points to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris. I wish good luck to all competitors.

I would like to give a special thank you to the International Judo Federation, which trusts us with organising this event and a special thank you as well to the Hungarian government, which supports our ideas. Thank you very much."

The draw closed with some special photos, including 3 Olympic champions in attendance at the draw, double Olympic Champion Shohei Ono, 1992 Olympic Champion Antal Kovacs and 1984 Olympic Champion Shinji Hosokawa.