The emotion seized the missionary tatami yesterday. With 400 registered, the ninth edition of the Tokyo Judo Cup took place yesterday, organized by the Missionary Federation and which had as its epicenter an emotional postmortem tribute to the master Víctor Galeano.
Judokas from all over the province, Corrientes, Chaco, Buenos Aires and Entre Ríos, as well as representatives of Paraguay and Uruguay, said present yesterday at the former Institute of Sports, on Córdoba Street 69 of Posadas, in a journey that began in the morning and lasted until night.
It was a day of pure combat that was only cut at noon, for the opening act, and was attended by different authorities and the secretary of the Argentine Judo Confederation (CAJ), Eduardo Mariño Rey. In that ceremony, the national entity presented the 8th Dan belt to sensei Galeano.
“The whole family was there, in addition to my old man’s father, Rubén; my mother and many friends who came from far away to be present. Everyone wanted to be there to honor his memory. And it is that he dedicated more than 40 years of his life to judo ”, told yesterday to SPORTING one of the sensei’s sons, Javier Galeano, who took over the baton after his father’s death and is the current president of the Judo Missionary Federation (FMJ).
“The sensei left us a legacy, we are calm because this tournament, with this call, shows us that we are on the right path, promoting the discipline and values of judo, encouraging youth to start in this beautiful sport”, added Javier, who assured that “the balance in terms of sports is more than positive, this young board of directors follows in the footsteps of the teacher, it is visible now that he taught us well and that we have learned well”.
In the opening act of the tournament, those who are currently among the best judokas in the red land were also protagonists. In that framework, The Argentine flag had Anahí Galeano as standard bearer, escorted by Analía Machado and Aylén González, all champions in the last National that was played in Córdoba.
Regarding the missionary flag, the person in charge of carrying it was Fabricio Girlad, one of the pleasant revelations in Infantiles B -up to 53 kilograms of body weight- and the only missionary summoned to the campus of the Argentine National Team which will take place in the coming weeks. The escorts were Valentina Kohen and Sofía Cardozo, also national champions in Córdoba.
As for strictly sports, yesterday the competition was carried out in the children’s categories, Cadets, Novices and Seniors.
Cassinerio’s letter
This weekend the secretary, Eduardo Mariño Rey, was in Posadas on behalf of the CAJ, although the president of the national entity sent a letter that was shared with those present.
“I must publicly acknowledge the man who committed himself with his words, which were always positive in support of the Confederation and Argentine judo. And if he ever had to observe something different, he did it with respect and with the height of his own conviction to say something superior for our judo and our development”, wrote Oscar Cassinerio.
“Víctor Galeano, in his leadership and in front of all the judo in Argentina, defended the colors of Misiones and always said present (…) He was a man totally committed to federal judo and defended the work done by all the federations affiliated with the CAJ ”, he added.
About the end, he highlighted: “It is therefore at this particular moment, where Javier took over from his father to direct the destinies of missionary judo, whoever has the honor of receiving this honorary degree of 8th Dan”, was read in the letter, at which time Javier Galeano received the respective symbol.
