Judo European Championships causes huge interest in Georgia

April 24, 25 and 26, 2009 will be busy days for Tbilisi Sports Palace. Several European or Georgian titleholder judokas will face each other in Georgian capital. Names of Europe’s best seven men and women judokas will become clear after the competition. 152 men and 109 women athletes from 39 European countries will take part in European championships, which will be reported by 120 sport journalists from 14 countries. It is first time that Georgia is hosting the sports event that draws so much attention from international media.

European Judo Union (EJU) leading bodies, with president Sergey Soloveichik are visiting the event in Tbilisi. President of International Judo Federation, Marius Wiser with other officials will also be there as well as Georgian Judo Federation (GJF) officials and members of the Georgian government.

Tbilisi Sports Palace was reconstructed before the event to match international standards. All requests that EJU had toward GJF were took into account. The scene with tatamis were raised to 80cm. Lightning system, training rooms, press boxes and many other facilities were fully reconstructed or improved.
Preliminary round will start at 10 am, April 24. Finals will take place from 5 p.m. The ticket price is 10 GEL.
 

Schedule (All times in Georgian time)

Friday. 24. 04. 2009
7:00 – 7:30 – Unofficial weigh-in
7:30 – 8:00 - Official Weigh-in
10:00 – Elimination Rounds (-48 kg, -52kg, -57kg, -60kg, -66kg)
After – repechage and semi-finals
16:30 – European Championships official opening ceremony
17:00 – Bronze medal fights, Finals, Awards. TV start 17:00; finish 18:55
 

Saturday. 25. 04. 2009
7:00 – 7:30 – Unofficial weigh-in
7:30 – 8:00 - Official Weigh-in
10:00 – Elimination Rounds (-63 kg, -70kg, -73kg, -81kg)
After – repechage and semi-finals
17:00 – Bronze medal fights, Finals, Awards. TV start 17:00; finish 18:55
 

Sunday. 26. 04. 2009
7:00 – 7:30 – Unofficial weigh-in
7:30 – 8:00 - Official Weigh-in
10:00 – Elimination Rounds (-78 kg, +78kg, -90kg, -100kg, +100)
After – repechage and semi-finals
17:00 – Bronze medal fights, Finals, Awards. TV start 17:00; finish 18:55

Geo Judo Federation Press-center