The Hungarian Minister of Defence, His Excellency Mr Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczy, was present at the 2025 IJF Ordinary Congress on 11th June and his opening speech illustrated the warm, team-centred way in which the government of Hungary and the IJF are working together.
“Ladies and gentlemen, dear president, dear guests, let me officially welcome you, on behalf of the Hungarian government, to Budapest for this international judo congress and the world championship. This is not the first time that you have given us the trust to organise this very important and large event here in Budapest. This can also be explained by the fact that Budapest proudly hosts the international headquarters of the IJF.
Let me express my sincere gratitude to all the delegates who have arrived in such great numbers today, and to the management team of the federation, who have put tremendous effort into organising this session. I also offer a special thank you to President Dr Laszlo Toth, a great and long term friend who has worked tirelessly to support the preparations for today."
"I have a special and personal relationship with Japanese martial arts. I'm sure everybody knows that the three oldest disciplines of Japanese martial arts are sumo, kenjutsu and jujutsu. I myself did ten or so years in kendo, which is a modernised version of kenjutsu, and rose to the rank of second dan. The values link us all.
We are firmly convinced that the sport of judo has a great place in Budapest, which has a long tradition in the sport. We believe in the promotion of what sport can really bring to nations, how it can connect people of various backgrounds, beliefs and worldviews as a universal and common language. But sport also sees challenges these days, when younger generations tend to spend most of their time on their mobile phones and in the digital environment. Our grand question is how do we attract the youth back to the world, back to the real world, back to living? Promoting these internal values is an excellent way to attract the youth and bring them here, giving them the chance to discover in themselves what is needed for success in this sport and beyond. This is not only to pursue great, spectacular and fast victories, but what judo really offers in the way of internal strength, discipline and tireless work toward success."
"The final thought is that it is not by chance that in Hungary we combined defence and sport. Now both activities are under the same umbrella, which I have the honour to lead because sport and the military share so many common values, those values that actually underpin both sport, particularly judo, and the military.
I wish everyone an enjoyable time in Budapest, in Hungary, and a successful congress and world championships.”
The special moments continued throughout the congress with detailed reports on progress from the continental unions, the IJF officers and from the commissions. Towards the end of the event, 5 members of the judo family were recognised by IJF President Marius Vizer for their immense contribution to the world of judo. The awards were as follows:
Following the closing of the IJF Congress, staff and delegations moved on to complete final preparations for the draw of the 2025 World Championships and the event itself, the flagship competition of the year.
Follow all information, statistics and draws on the integrated platform, JudoTV.