2016 Commonwealth Judo Championships awarded to South Africa

The 2014 Commonwealth Judo Association Congress was held on 22 July 2014 at the University of Glasgow and the meeting saw the hosts for the 2016 Commonwealth Judo Championships awarded to South Africa.

The event will be held in the city of Port Elizabeth. South Africa saw off stiff opposition from India and Scotland, with Malta retracting their bid during the presentations.

This is the first time that the Commonwealth Judo Championships will be held on the African continent. Picture below shows Judo South Africa General Secretary Ina Van Den Heever, signing a letter of intent to host the 2016 Comowealth Judo Championships with CJA Executive President Rick Kenney, they are flanked by CJA Secretary General Dr Mike Callan.

As previously reported here, Mr Rick Kenney (SCO) was re-elected unopposed as Executive President of the British Judo Association, on a mandate to further modernise the Association, to continue to build strong relations with the International Judo Federation, and to establish judo as a core sport in the Commonwealth Games programme.

Other Executive Officer positions were as follows:
Dr Richard Briggs (NIR), Vice-President
Envic Galea (MLT), Vice President
Dr Mike Callan (ENG), Secretary General and Treasurer
Mr Malcolm Limrick (WAL), Sports Director

There were four Executive Members elected; Professor Alexandar De Souza (NGR), Mr Barry James (ENG), Mr Sotos Tricomitis (CYP), and Mr Man Mohan Jaiswal (IND). They join the incumbent Executive Committee members Mr Temba Hlasho (RSA), Ms Estony Hattingh (BOT) and Fr Jude McKenna (ZAM).

The congress also voted to devote funds to support additional judo development projects around the Commonwealth, hopefully in partnership with other initiatives.