The IJF President, Mr. Marius Vizer, recently met a delegation from the Chinese judo association led by the new president and former double Olympic gold medalist, Xian Dongmei (Athens 2004, 2008 Beijing) and the general secretary, HU WeiXing, as well as CHE Kuong Hon, Continental Sport Director Judo Union of Asia.

Above: the Chinese Judo Association offered a special calligraphy to the IJF President

During the discussions, the Chinese Judo Association explained that the federation's aim is to strengthen judo all over the country. Sports in China are now registering important changes, and as as consequence the federation needs to have its own and independent governance. This means that the organisation will have more autonomy and therefor needs to establish a solid strategy for financing the activity...

Xian Dongmei explained that they are looking to increasing the popularity of judo in China and finding ways to sponsor activities is under studying. One of the options would be to introduce price money in some internal competition for seniors.

With the support of the IJF, china is ready to organize more international competitions, especially with the neighborhood countries. The Chinese Judo Association is happy to host the yearly Grand Prix, which will open the Olympic qualifications this year in Hohhot (May 2018). Both IJF and CJA presidents underlined the importance of those competitions for the hosting country as it helps to attract major sponsors, to develop the international media coverage, to give chances for home athletes to appear in the major events.

IJF President presented the IJF Statue to the President of the Chinese Judo Association

Recognizing the ambitions and perseverance of the Chinese Judo Association, the IJF is willing to assisting and helping the initiatives launched by the federation and will study the possibilities to extend the support for Chinese judo.

In the past, the IJF organized four editions of the Judo Education Journey throughout China. During those tours, big judo names were involved to promote the educational values of judo. 16 cities were visited and dozens of thousands of young judoka could participate and discover the sport.

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