The refereeing meeting for the European Championships Senior Zagreb 2024 took place Wednesday afternoon. However, last week, the referees’ ranking list was temporarily frozen and final selections were made for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games, which was one of the main talking points, indicating we can expect a top-class refereeing package in Croatia. Attendees included Europe’s top 16 referees, IJF Head Referee Director, Armen BAGDASAROV; EJU Head Referee Director, Alexandr JATSKEVITCH; EJU Head Referee Commissioners: Franc OCKO and Cathy MOUETTE ; EJU Referee Commissioners: Nuno CARVALHO and Andreas HEMPEL.
To begin with, Alexandr Jatskevitch welcomed all referees and colleagues before announcing a special welcome to IJF Head Referee Director Armen Bagdasarov. The latter then addressed the team:
First of all, I want to congratulate to you all, the strongest refereeing team in the world. The majority, actually half of the Olympic refereeing team is from Europe. I also wish to congratulate the EJU refereeing commission in preparing such strong referees from Europe. I am looking forward to working with you for the rest of this week and assist you when needed.
Each commissioners congratulated for those, who have been selected for Paris 2024 with Nuno Carvalho adding:
It is a great honour for all of us to have such a strong group at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Regarding this competition, as we said there are no changes in the rules but in some cases, we know it is not so easy to see or to make decision in live action so we are here to support you all with the technology. Good luck to you all.
Following the meeting, EJU Head Referee Director Alexandr JATSKEVITCH also voiced his thoughts;
To begin with, I must say thank you to IJF Head Referee Director Armen Bagdasarov in trusting our work and in European referees, making a strong selection for both Games. I hope that our team will do a great job. However, before that, we now have the European Championships, our flagship event. With that comes the selection of the best referees in Europe and I must revert and say all who are selected to the Summer Games by IJF are here. The selection for Zagreb was made before the IJF selected the referees for the Olympics and Paralympics, which indicates that our refereeing system is in line with the IJF system.
For the rest of the week, after each day, the referees will come together for a revaluation meeting to ensure all questions raised are analysed and answered. The draw is out, the referees are ready. All set to go. Hajime!
Images: Emanuele Di Feliciantonio
Author: Szandra Szogedi