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World judo president says Japan needs to ‘clean up’ its act
Posted on June 10, 2013 by Ida Torres in National, Sports with No Comments
International Judo Federation (IJF) president Marius Vizer has urged Japan to “clean up its act” after a recent string of scandals has caused All-Japan Judo Federation (AJJF) and the sport itself to lose its credibility with the athletes and with the public as well. Vizer said he is planning to make reforms to the sport, particularly to Japanese judo, to raise its profile in the Olympics.
The IJF is giving the Japanese federation until October 15 to furnish them a full account of all the incidents of the past few months and then the world organization will take the appropriate action to punish those that need to be. Vizer, the IJF president since 2007, is in Tokyo to pay a visit to the federation and understand the current situation because they are proposing to the International Olympics Committee to include a team competition in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He said they have a great chance of being able to pull it off since judo has gone up in the revenue-sharing ranking of Olympic sports in five categories because of their efforts in the past 4-5 years. The IOC executive board just recently promoted judo to third tier from the fourth tier. That is why it is important that Japan has everything under control so they will not hold the sport back.
It was February this year when the members of the national women’s team revealed that their coach physically and emotionally abused members of team, using a bamboo sword to beat them up, calling them ugly and telling them to die. He later on resigned, but the damage was done as AJJF was left in turmoil. Then last April, reports came out that some judo officials allegedly received government subsidies for coaches even when they were not technically coaches. Just last month, one judo official, Jiro Fukuda, reportedly made unwanted sexual advances towards a female athlete in 2011. The federation is now considering expelling him.
Source: http://japandailypress.com/world-judo-president-says-japan-needs-to-clean-up-its-act-1030276
Posted on June 10, 2013 by Ida Torres in National, Sports with No Comments
International Judo Federation (IJF) president Marius Vizer has urged Japan to “clean up its act” after a recent string of scandals has caused All-Japan Judo Federation (AJJF) and the sport itself to lose its credibility with the athletes and with the public as well. Vizer said he is planning to make reforms to the sport, particularly to Japanese judo, to raise its profile in the Olympics.
The IJF is giving the Japanese federation until October 15 to furnish them a full account of all the incidents of the past few months and then the world organization will take the appropriate action to punish those that need to be. Vizer, the IJF president since 2007, is in Tokyo to pay a visit to the federation and understand the current situation because they are proposing to the International Olympics Committee to include a team competition in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He said they have a great chance of being able to pull it off since judo has gone up in the revenue-sharing ranking of Olympic sports in five categories because of their efforts in the past 4-5 years. The IOC executive board just recently promoted judo to third tier from the fourth tier. That is why it is important that Japan has everything under control so they will not hold the sport back.
It was February this year when the members of the national women’s team revealed that their coach physically and emotionally abused members of team, using a bamboo sword to beat them up, calling them ugly and telling them to die. He later on resigned, but the damage was done as AJJF was left in turmoil. Then last April, reports came out that some judo officials allegedly received government subsidies for coaches even when they were not technically coaches. Just last month, one judo official, Jiro Fukuda, reportedly made unwanted sexual advances towards a female athlete in 2011. The federation is now considering expelling him.
Source: http://japandailypress.com/world-judo-president-says-japan-needs-to-clean-up-its-act-1030276
