With the last two categories, men's +100kg and women's +78kg, the individual competition is now over but the tournament as a whole is not as tomorrow will be the mixed team event.

The IJF and Fuji TV Will keep Working Together

Just prior to the start of the final block Mr Marius Vizer, IJF President and Mr Shin Tomooka, Executive Officer of the Sports Department of Judo Television, came together to sign the broadcasting agreement between the IJF and Fuji TV for 2022/23.

Mr Vizer said, “Good afternoon. It’s a great pleasure and honour to restart the relationship with Fuji TV. We collaborated in the past for different periods but after the Covid situation and the Olympic Games we are now able to restart our cooperation. We are honoured as we know that Fuji is not only a premium broadcaster in Japan but is also an innovator. They bring special content including the specialist treatment of judo techniques. We look forward to a successful collaboration.”

Mr Tomooka said, "As the rights holder in Japan, it is obvious for us to hope for the Japanese athletes to win but especially with Tokyo Games and here in Tashkent, we can see the level of all opposition rising. We hope for the heavyweight title here in Uzbekistan. That being said, it’s our goal to promote judo around the world and make judo understandable for everybody.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games is just around the corner and we wish to continue being a part of this judo family through this period."

The signing took place in the presence of the IJF, AJJF and Fuji TV personnel.

Last But Not Least

The two categories of this seventh day had their share of surprises, as every day of these championships has had. It's nice somehow that you can't predict accurately the results because it preserves the mystery of the competition. Some favourites shone and held their ground, although none of them can say it was easy. Others did not succeed in their attempts to become world champions. They will have other opportunities to redeem themselves. In the meantime, everyone, without exception, will be able to go home with a list of things to work on and polish.

The men +100kg and the women +78 were therefore the last to tread the tatami of the Humo Arena, but not the least. It has nothing to do with the size of the athletes but simply the fact that they entered the battle with the same motivation as the athletes of the previous days.

Let's be honest, we also know that heavyweights have always had and will always have a special place in the hearts of judo fans. This is partly because in ancient times there were no weight classes, so the big guys took the lion's share. We also liked the idea that the smallest can get rid of the biggest. This spirit still prevails today.

Closing this chapter of a world championship of very good quality is not insignificant. Being the last world champion of the competition marks the spirits. Dicko and Granda have therefore inscribed their names in the pantheon of judo and we can congratulate them warmly for this.

Tomorrow, we take the same attitudes and start again. However, team spirit will take precedence over individual spirit and we already know that we will have great stories to tell. What is sure is that from start to finish it was all beautiful!

See also