The judo tournament of Yekaterinburg, which was to be held from 13 to 15 March, is canceled due to the corona virus. The tournament in the Russian city is considered a grand slam and is therefore one of the more prestigious events of global judo.
Nine Dutch judokas were to take action in the Russian city, namely Juul Franssen, Sanne van Dijke, Marhinde Verkerk, Kim Polling, Tornike Tsjakadoea, Frank de Wit, Michael Korrel, Roy Meyer and Henk Grol. For them, it would be an important tournament in the qualifying cycle en route to the Tokyo Olympic Games later this year.
Initially it was decided to finish the tournament without an audience, but on closer inspection the Russian Ministry of Sport decided that a more radical measure was required.
Fair Olympic qualification cycle
The international judo federation IJF has decided to cancel all Olympic qualifiers until April 30. In addition to Ekaterinburg, these are the tournaments from Tbilisi (Georgia) and Antalya (Turkey) and all continental tournaments. According to the international federation, drastic measures have been taken to protect the health and safety of judokas worldwide.
In addition, the IJF emphasizes that the principle remains to guarantee a fair Olympic qualification cycle on the way to Tokyo. The grand slam tournament of Baku at the beginning of May and the master tournament of Doha at the end of May will therefore continue as usual. The Budapest Grand Prix Tournament in mid-June will be upgraded to Grand Slam status. At all those tournaments, the judokas can still earn points for the world ranking and the Olympic qualification.
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