The Spanish city of Malaga is already a benchmark for judo at this time. The difference is that this year it also became a university, with students in their last year of study. Taking into consideration the difficult period of the pandemic, in 2021 the IJF decided to organise a larger examination, inviting all continents to take part, according to restrictions and travel possibilities.
From a total of 34 candidates, 29 were present for the final shiai. Friday 22nd October, in the morning, was dedicated to the theoretical examination, with a test of 60 questions in 60 minutes. The test forms are IJF Academy approved and part of the Level 1 Undergraduate Diploma curriculum, with all tests being held in English. On Friday afternoon the candidates had the interview, also in English language, where judo knowledge, judo performances and judo experiences were covered.
On Saturday and Sunday the practical examination took place on three competition mats. The preliminaries and final blocks were refereed by the candidates, who delivered good performances.
As for the teachers, the international refereeing examination was run by the IJF Refereeing Commission represented by Florin Daniel Lascau, IJF Head Refereeing Director, Manuel Cortes, IJF Supervisor, Tonino Chyurlia, IJF Refereeing General Secretary, together with the EJU Refereeing Commission, represented by Alexandr Jatskevitch, EJU Head Refereeing Director and Franky De Moor, EJU Refereeing Director.
In addition to the studious atmosphere and the desire to examine the next generation of umpires live and in action, the beauty of the operation was its global appearance. The candidates passing this examination where from Oceania (PYF), Africa (BUR, CMR), Asia (KOR, KWT, KSA), Pan-America (ARG, BRA, MEX, PUR, USA) and Europe (AUT, BEL, BIH , CRO, CZE, DEN, ESP, FRA, GBR, GER, ITA, POL, POR, ROU, RUS, SLO, SRB). This means that the level is rising in the five continents, which will allow the organising of international tournaments to continue, with guarantees everywhere.
As for the candidates, there are profiles for all tastes, different origins and different horizons. Judo is the transmission belt, a chain that goes around the world. For example, between the candidates we found judoka such as Cho Inchul, double Olympic medallist and double world champion, Rehia Davio, President of Oceania Judo Union and Claudia Herrera Delgado, the first ever continental referee from Puerto Rico..
Finally, Florin Daniel Lascau assures us that, “the IJF Refereeing Commission, in cooperation with the continental unions’ refereeing commissions, intends to organise the 2022 international refereeing examinations in four different locations, on four continents, in order to bridge the gap created by the Covid-19 period and to continue the development of refereeing worldwide."
It is a plan for the future, a long-term investment. The important thing is that there are trained referees and for that you have to have a quarry, the quarry of justice.
