International Judo Stars...2009.02.02

International Judo Federation

Fourteen male and 14 female judokas (25% of the total of medals awarded) who were on the podium in China last August 2008 are back to fight for their next Olympic Qualification London 2012.

 

Due to the new world ranking system announced by the International Judo Federation, since January 1^st all Grand Slam, Grand Prix, World Cup, Master and World Senior Championships share points for the international list, which qualifies for London 2012. There is no time to lose!

 

Olympic champions:

 

Masato Uchishiba (JPN, -66kg),

Elnur Mamadli (AZE, -73kg),

Irakli Tsirekidze (GEO, -90kg),

Alina Dumitru (ROU, -48kg),

Xiuli Yang (CHN, -78kg)

Wen Tong (CHN, +78kg)

 

are among the top stars to be seen in action. By now, athletes from 59 countries are confirmed to compete next weekend, with 196 female and 294 male judokas.

 

The new IJF tournament system features four Grand Slams (Paris, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro and Tokio), five Grand Prix (Hamburg, Tunis, United States of America, Beijing and Abu Dhabi) and 17 World Cups, plus the Masters to be held in Seoul this year. Grand Slam award 300 points to the winner, Grand Prix award 200 and World Cup award 100 points. Masters have a value of 400 points for the champion, while World Championships have 500 points, Olympic Games 600 points and continental championships 180 points. (For details access www.ijf.org).

 

Prize money will be given from this season on: Masters will divide US$ 200.000 among the medalists in each of the 14 Olympic categories; Grand Slam features a prize money of US$ 150.000 and Grand Prix will divide US$ 100.000.

 

For more information please contact: press@ijf.org

 

 

 

 

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