International Judo Federation (IFJ) announced this weekend changes to the criteria for access to the Olympic berth. The ranking for the classification, which previously began two years before the Olympics, will come into effect in 2009. Furthermore, the places will now be individual and no longer for the country, which opens up more space for talented judokas from countries with few tradition and could make life difficult for the Brazilian team, which traditionally has a good number of athletes at the Games.
With the news, the Brazilian Judo Confederation changed the selection for the national team. In total, 42 athletes started 2009 in the Olympic process. Each category will have three representatives, the starter and reserve in Beijing and the winner of the Vitória Selective. There will be no tryouts at the beginning of the year. The exception is the 90kg category, which has four athletes competing after Tiago Camilo's weight gain.
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