There's only one judo division for which a candidate needs to be selected to represent Japan in the upcoming Olympics -- the men's 66-kilogram weight-class. The All Japan Judo Federation plans to choose that member at the Tokyo Grand Slam 2020 scheduled in December.
The selection process was raised Thursday during the federation's meeting to discuss measures against the spread of the novel coronavirus. The final decision will be made through meetings with standing directors and the board of directors.
The final round of matches between judo players Joshiro Maruyama and Hifumi Abe was originally scheduled for April at the All Japan Judo Championships, but was postponed due to the outbreak of the virus, forcing the federation to come up with another qualifying method.
The federation's Managing Director Soya Nakazato told reporters: "We want to provide the players with enough time to prepare [for the match]. With that in mind, we also need to have enough time to prepare for the Olympics and judged that around this time [December] is the limit."
There are a total of 14 men's and women's Olympic Judo weight-class divisions.
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