Rick Kenney, 7th Dan, Vice President of JudoScotland was re-elected as Executive President of the Commonwealth Judo Association at the recent CJA Congress held in Glasgow and says he intends to continue to work for judo being made a permanent sport in future Commonwealth Games.

Rick was a member of the CJA Executive from 1990 and was elected as Senior Vice President in 1998. He attended Commonwealth Judo Championships in this position all over the world, including Mauritius; Malta; Canada: Singapore and New Zealand. He was Chairman of the Organising Committees when Commonwealth Championships were held in Scotland in 1998 and 1986.

He was previously Chairman of JudoScotland for seven years and Vice Chair of the British Judo Association for 5 years along with serving 2 terms as Vice Chair of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland.
The role of CJA Executive President is a demanding one with some 71 Commonwealth countries having involvement in the sport of judo at all levels from recreational to international representation. The CJA is now involved in discussions with the International Judo Federation to progress mutual opportunities to further develop judo across the Commonwealth.

Judo was a demonstration sport in Edinburgh at the 1986 Games, when Rick was also the team coach, and due to its success, the sport was then included in the following Games in Auckland, New Zealand in 1990. Judo had to wait until the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 before the sport re-appeared on the Games programme, with Graham Randall winning a gold medal for Scotland.

Rick said, “I look forward to developing judo across the Commonwealth over the next few years and am sure that the success of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games will continue to showcase our sport across the world. Scotland has a long tradition in judo at Commonwealth level stretching back to 1986 and I see a bright future for judo.”