Following the release of the March 2022 Sport and Organisation Rules document, the IJF have updated the rules for veteran competitors.

The IJF Medical Commission have advised, and it has been approved for use in Britain that Masters events in categories for 60 years of age and over must exclude shime-waza for medical reasons. 

Due to the safety aspects of this IJF rule change, British Judo management team have moved quickly to comply with this advice, the rule will operate as follows: 

•  To apply or attempt to apply shime-waza in categories where the category is exclusively for athletes of 60 years of age and over, the penalty will be Hansokumake, against the spirit of judo. (Expelled from the event category). 
• In categories with under and over 60 years athletes, the athletes themselves must decide if it is safe for them to take part and if they do compete, they do so entirely at their own risk. 
• In Dan gradings where the category is not exclusively 60 years or over, the athletes will again need to decide if it is safe for them to take part and if they do compete they do so entirely at their own risk. Dan gradings for exclusively 60 years and over will exclude shime-waza in the same way as competitions. 
• Should an over 60 years athlete enter a category (for example) of over 50 years, the athlete does so entirely at their own risk. 
• Over 60 years athletes practicing judo in other environments (e.g., training in a club environment) will need to make their own choice about inclusion and they do so entirely at their own risk.

Age Division	Actual Age (in year of event)
F1/M1	30-34
F2/M2	35-39
F3/M3	40-44
F4/M4	45-49
F5/M5	50-54
F6/M6	55-59
F7/M7	60 – 64 (no shime-waza)
F8/M8	65 – 69 (no shime-waza)
F9/M9	70+ (no shime-waza)

This rule change will come into immediate effect from the 10/05/2022.

You can read the full IJF Sport and Organisation Rules document here

If you have any queries regarding this rule change please contact Keith Merrick at keith.merrick@britishjudo.org.uk