The President of the International Judo Federation (IJF), Marius Vizer, expressed his confidence that the Grand Prix of the discipline, scheduled to take place in Havana, in January, 2016, will be excellent.
We are currently specifying the tasks to be carried out at every stage of organizing the competition, but we aren’t worried as we are sure that it will be a great event and are confident in the abilities of the Cuban organizing committee, he noted.
Vizer recalled that the last Grand Prix in Astana, Kazakhstanwas perhaps the strongest in the sport’s history, and that the level of judo has greatly increased over the last year, with new countries and athletes competing in the international arena.
In regards to the Havana event, he reported the IJF is devoting more than $500,000 dollars to the tournament, but that the results will be well worth the investment.
We believe this to be an efficient investment to promote Cuban sport in general and judo in particular, but also for the Pan American region, as the island is the only country officially recognized by the IJF in the area, he said.
Finally, he assured that the event scheduled for January 22-24, 2016, in Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva sports complex, will see the participation of the best judokas on the planet.
I hope that this time more Asian countries come, I am sure they will because it is one of the last qualifying events for the Río de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, he noted.
The President of the Cuban Judo Federation, Rafael Manso, reiterated his thanks to the IJF for selecting the island to host the competition again following a positive evaluation of 2014.
Likewise, he reported that after the Grand Prix, in which around 500 competitors from 50 countries are scheduled to participate, a training camp will be held from January 25-27.
Every Tuesday we come together to review progress in preparation for the competition, and just like in 2014 we hope to win the public’s approval, which is the best evaluation possible, he concluded.
Vice President of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) Jorge Polo, highlighted that thanks to the support of the IJF, a developing country was able to host a high-level judo competition for the first time.
The 2016 event will be a challenge, but will be superior in organization and quality.
We will fully honor our commitments and in just four months we will hold an event of the quality demanded by world class judo, he assured.
(Granma)