The 2026 IBSA Judo World Championships open in Tbilisi, Georgia on 25 September and run for three days at the Hualing Tbilisi Sea Plaza. The championships bring together visually impaired judoka from around the world in the J1 and J2 classes.

Japan have entered thirteen judoka: six men and seven women. The squad is led by two Paris 2024 Paralympic champions, Hirose Junko, who competes in the J2 under-60 kg class here, and Seto Yujiro, listed at J2 under-70 kg.

The opening day decides six categories: the women’s J1 -52 kg, J2 -52 kg and J2 -60 kg, and the men’s J1 -70 kg, J2 -70 kg and J1 -81 kg. Japan’s entries include Hangaya Shizuka, Fujiwara Yui and Ishii Ako in the women’s under-52 kg classes, Hirose at under-60 kg, and Seto and Sakurai Tetsuya in the men’s J2 under-70 kg.

The second day covers the women’s J1 -60 kg, J1 -70 kg, J2 -70 kg, J1 +70 kg and J2 +70 kg and the men’s J2 -81 kg, J1 -95 kg, J2 -95 kg, J1 +95 kg and J2 +95 kg. Japan’s entries include Tsuchiya Minako and Nishimura Atsumi at J1 under-70 kg and Ogawa Kazusa at J2 under-70 kg, with Kato Yuji, Matsumoto Tomokazu and Tanaka Tsukasa in the men’s classes.

The championships close on 27 September with the men’s and women’s team events, where Japan have entered the men’s team.

The Japan Blind Judo Federation says the competition is being streamed live on the IBSA Blind Sports YouTube channel. On the opening day the preliminary rounds began at 13:30 Japan time (08:30 local), the opening ceremony is at 21:30 Japan time (16:30 local) and the final block starts at 22:15 Japan time (17:15 local).

The second day’s preliminaries also begin at 13:30 Japan time with the final block from 21:30 Japan time. The team event on the final day starts at 15:00 Japan time (10:00 local), with the final block one hour after the preliminaries finish.

Sources