The China Judo Association has been awarded the IJF World Judo Masters competition from 2018 to 2022.

China, which is fresh off the latest #JudoForTheWorld filming and staged the Hohhot Grand Prix a week ago, the first Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification event, will host four editions of judo’s invite-only Masters event which is open to the top-16 ranked judoka in each weight category.

The season-ending Masters will emanate from Guangzhou in southern China in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 and will offer the most World Ranking List points on the IJF World Judo Tour after the World Championships.

IJF President Marius Vizer and CJA President Xian Dongmei at the Hohhot Grand Prix 2018

China Judo Association President Xian Dongmei, who won Olympic gold at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, said: “In March 2018 we had a meeting with the IJF President Marius Vizer in Budapest and we said that the China Judo Association would like to host more top-level judo events.

“We will stage this special event in Guangzhou because we have a vast country and our Grand Prix in Hohhot is in the north so we needed an event in the south.

“Guangzhou is highly-developed city with a good structure and transport links and we hope to host a very successful series of Masters events that can help us to learn and develop as an Association.”

IJF President Marius Vizer with CJA President Xian Dongmei and Che Kuong Hon, Continental Sport Director Judo Union of Asia, during their March 2018 meeting in Budapest, Hungary

A prestigious gold medal at the two-day season finale offers 1800 points with silver worth 1260 and bronze coming in at 900 points.

Cheng Xunzhao (CHN) defeats Ilias Iliadis (GRE) at Rio 2016 on his way to becoming China's first male Olympic judo medallist (bronze)

The IJF World Judo Masters is one of the premier showcases of judo with the stars of the circuit in action including Olympic and world champions and has been held in Suwon, South Korea (2010), Baku, Azerbaijan (2011), Almaty, Kazakhstan (2012), Tyumen, Russia (2013), Rabat, Morocco (2015), Guadalajara, Mexico (2016) and St Petersburg, Russia (2017).

Watch #JudoMasters2018 live and free at IJF.org on 15-16 December.

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