The Sport
Paralympic judo is exclusively for
athletes with a vision impairment and follows the same rules as Olympic judo,
with the difference that judokas shall start and remain during the combat
holding each other’s suits.
Combats last five minutes for men and
four for women. The aim is to either gain more points than the rival by skilful
attacks or score the “ippon” by throwing the opponent with their back on the
ground, immobilising them or forcing a submission.
Athletes compete in a series of tournaments along the year,
including World Cups and world and regional Championships.
Classification: Only athletes with vision impairment
are eligible to compete, with all the sight classes (B1, B2 and B3) competing
together and divided according to the judokas’ weight.
The athletes have less than 10 per cent visual acuity
remaining or a visual field restricted to 40 degrees diameter. A red circle on
the sleeve of their Judogi indicates an athlete who is completely blind.
Athletes compete in weight categories
independent of their vision impairment.
History and Paralympic Debut
Men’s Para judo was first included in
the Seoul 1988 Paralympics with women’s Para judo following at Athens 2004. The
sport is the only martial art on the programme.
At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games
there were seven different male weight divisions and six female weight
divisions: -48kg, -52kg, 57kg, -63kg, -70kg and +70kg.
Iran Para Judo
Judo for the first time was
administered in 1991 and players represented Team Iran at 1998 World Championships in Spain.
The first edition of the national
championships was staged next year in 1993. Team Iran made its first
international appearance in 1998.
Currently, para athletes are under
support of I. R. Iran Sports Federation for the Blind (IRISFB) which is member
of the NPC to get support.
Media
Watch an introduction to the sport on Paralympic Sports A-Z: Para Judo