London calling for ID Euro Judo Champs

London Calling

© Mike Varey, elitepix

British Judo are pleased to announce that London has been named the

FOLLOWING on from the resounding success and recognition of the first ID World Championships, which was supported by the International Judo Federation, British Judo have been given the same support from the European Judo Union (EJU) to run the first European Championships of its kind.

The event will be held on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 August at the SportsDock, University of East London (UEL Sportsdock). GB Judo had a very successful outing to the

ID World Championships in Cologne last year winning seven medals including five gold. The BJA have been striving to improve the offering of adaptive judo across Great Britain and the event is just reward for the Association following excellent feedback from the EJU about our bid.

“Judo is considered to be one of the most valuable sports for judo athletes with intellectual disability and I am positive that the Championships in London will become

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an important milestone for judoka from many nations.” commented Sergey Soloveychik, President of the EJU. “I am also convinced that the event in London will be a great success and a very positive step towards the inclusion of ID into the judo sporting environment.”

Adaptive Judo lead at the BJA, Kerry Tansey, headed up the bid and was thrilled with the decision to land the event in London. “To receive the official email from the

host of the first Intellectual Disability (ID) European Championships

President of the EJU supporting the event is amazing for our Adaptive Judo Athletes,” she added. “Small steps are being achieved in recognition for our athletes on the World and European stage. This is an amazing opportunity for us to host the event following the success of the IJF World ID Championships in Cologne in October 2017.

“Everyone involved within the working group to make this opportunity happen have to be

commended for their dedication, patience and perseverance. Special thanks to Jane Bridge- Charlot in supporting us too.” Following the ID Europeans, the venue will be hosting the British Open Adaptive Judo Championships and the British Judo Visually Impaired National/Invitational Championships on Saturday 25 August, also at UEL Sportsdock.•

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Further event information: www.britishjudo.org.uk/2018-intellectualdisability-championships/

www.britishjudo.org.uk/event/2018-britishopen-adaptive-judo-championships/ www.britishjudo.org.uk/event/british-judovisually-impaired-national-invitationalchampionships/

British Judo’s renowned Paralympic Programme is becoming a highly-coveted model for success in Visually Impaired (VI) judo. Find out more about Britain’s VI stars in future issues of Agility