Undoubtedly excited, inspired and feeding off the energy from the IJF World Tour, the cadet athletes return to the tour and this weekend it will be in Follonica, Italy, for the first time since before the pandemic. Returning with great numbers to kick off the tour, we have 478 judoka from 27 nations honing in on the western coast of Italy, the new season begins and the preparation for the majors is underway for the youngest of our future superstars.
Looking back to 2020, we had the likes of Veronica TONIOLO, Giulia CARNA, Bright MADDALONI NOSA and Jean CARLETTI from the host team storming the categories and have progressed further, whether it become IJF World Tour regulars or taking Junior European titles.
Though there are many strong European representatives, Mongolia are sending in the big guns and have four top seeds. What is most exciting about the cadet events is the sheer number of completely unranked entrants that can come in to shake things up. The draw will be available tomorrow at 20:00 local time over on JudoTV.com.
Following the two-day event on the 10th and 11th of February, the cadets will continue their adventure in a camp between the 12th and 14th.
Author: Thea Cowen