Before the final block, two very special ceremonies took place. The president of the IJF, Mr Marius Vizer, was joined on stage by Mr Naser Al-Tamimi, the General Secretary of the UAE Judo Federation, and Dr Tóth László, president of the Hungarian Judo Association. To mark the announcement that the 2025 World Judo Championships will be held in Budapest, Hungary, a ceremonial passing of the IJF flag took place. Mr Al-Tamimi returned the flag to Mr Vizer, who then presented it to Dr Tóth, to symbolise the passing on of the responsibility for organisation of the world championships.
Following this ceremony, a special presentation was made to Mr Al-Tamimi and the UAE Judo Federation Event Director Mr Sultan Mohamed Al Kitbi. Mr Vizer presented them each with the special edition Jigoro Kano statute manufactured by Herend Porceline, as a gesture of gratitude and appreciation on behalf of the judo family for their hard work and dedication to make this year’s world championships a resounding success.
On the tatami, Japan defeated France in the final for the sixth time in a row, retaining the mixed teams world title and ensuring they continued their perfect unbeaten run since the event's inception. Georgia won bronze for the second year running, overcoming Germany in the bronze medal match. Italy took the other bronze medal in what was their first appearance in the event, defeating Uzbekistan.
With the awarding of the medals, the Abu Dhabi World Championships 2024 came to close after a phenomenal six days of judo, full of non-stop action, drama and history-making. For now, we look ahead to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games but the IJF World Judo Tour continues in August with the World Championships Cadets 2024. The senior world championships will return in 2025, taking place from 13th – 20th June in Budapest, Hungary. We hope you can join us for both.