The International Judo Federation Academy hosted its 100th practical session in Dominican Republic last week ©IJF

The International Judo Federation (IJF) Academy hosted its 100th practical session in Dominican Republic last week.

The session was hosted with help from Olympic Solidarity, the National Olympic Committee of Dominican Republic and the National Federation.

Apart from hosts, participants were from Uruguay, the United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti and Chile.

"This started with the wish of our president (sic), Marius Vizer, who wanted the teachers to have a professional preparation," Envic Galea, director of the IJF Academy, said.

 "The Academy began in 2013 with only 12 students."

Apart from the hosts, participants for the session were from Uruguay, the United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti and Chile ©IJF
Apart from the hosts, participants for the session were from Uruguay, the United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti and Chile ©IJF

Galea was joined by IJF head of education Tibor Kozsla, IJF head refereeing director and academy sport director Daniel Lascau, triple Olympic medallist Mark Huizinga of The Netherlands, world medallist Daniela Krukower of Argentina and Chikara Kariya of the Kodokan.

According to Kozsla, "six hours of work" was done each day during the session, that concluded today, "to update the participants on the new judo rules".

The IJF Academy was founded in 2013 and was officially recognised as an Autonomous Higher Education Institute by the National Commission for Further and Higher Education of Malta in 2018.

A total of 5,864 registrations have passed through the institution, of which 2953 from 130 nations have already graduated.