Judo in Reunion will be celebrating from the coming weekend. First with the 6th edition of the Open des Mascareignes scheduled for the gymnasium of Saint-Paul IV. Then, next week, with the “Itinerary of Champions”, an event tour set up by the Federation and which will bring several big names in French judo to our island, including the Créopolitan, Guillaume Chaine (above).
With its approximately 2,900 members, compared to 3,600 before the health crisis, judo is like many other sports on the island: on the revival. At the federal level, several actions have been set up to help leagues and committees get off to a great start. Even if some of them may seem inaccessible to overseas regions. “I had the opportunity to discuss it with the president of the Federation in December, during a youth tournament which I had visited. I told him then that it was a pity that we were not really entitled to these shares ”says Bernard Laterrière, president of the Reunionese League.
It was enough for the “Itinerary of Champions” to land for the first time in Reunion. Appointment is made next week, for four days of exchanges and sharing between several big names in tricolor judo and the various players in this discipline on the island. On Friday August 26, there will also be a question of a passage of ranks not quite like the others, under the leadership of federal executives. “We have seven candidates who will try to pass 5e or 6e dan. This is the very first time it can be done on the island. Until now, you had to go to mainland France, explains Bernard Laterrière. For these candidates, there is therefore a real saving in plane tickets and among the four national technicians who will supervise this passage, there will be the DTN in charge of the Dom-Tom, Christian Dyot…”
