For the past two weeks, Sarajevo hosted several back to back judo events, including the European Judo Championships Veterans 2024, the European Judo Championships Kata 2024 and the Kodokan Kata Seminar and Examination. With the latter is about to be wrapped up, it was time to discuss last weeks’ happenings with Ms. Arijana JAHA, General Secretary of the Bosnia & Herzegovina Judo Federation. It has been a long two weeks, how do you feel?
It was a really big challenge for us because we never organised a veteran or kata tournament, nor a Kodokan Seminar before. When we get the confirmation that we will be hosting these events we start the work immediately but for sure we did not know what to expect until everyone arrived. We have a really good team on all points, like judogi control, mat support, catering etcetera…, they are experienced, and we knew that with our good team we can manage everything.
I hope that all teams who came to Sarajevo had a great time here. Hosting the first ever Ne-waza European Championships as well as the first Adapted Kata European Championships gives us special satisfaction and pride. Next, perhaps, we would like to organise a veteran world championships. I think this [veteran] event is really nice. We also managed to win some medals, so it was especially great. Sarajevo made many history this past two weeks and it brings us great pleasure to be able to have accommodated the first ever official inclusive judo event. The Adapted Kata event was incredible.
It was a hard work, needless to say, we had to change the venue completely in 10 hours between the veteran and the kata event, but we enjoy this challenge as a team and are grateful for this opportunity. We want to thank, on behalf of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Judo Federation. for the trust and support of EJU President, Dr Toth Laszlo and the European Judo Union. It was a team work together with everyone, the teams, the federations, the EJU and the local organisation. We are looking forward to the next one. We love to welcome the judo family in Sarajevo.
Author: Szandra Szogedi