Judo from Brazil may stay out of Beijing

Owner of 13 medals at the Pan American Games and second place overall at the 2007 World Cup, Brazilian judo is threatened with being left out of the Beijing Olympic Games. The reason is a political fight between the Pan-American Judo Union (UPJ) and the Confederation.

the Brazilian sport that has been dragging on, and culminated in a meeting that will be organized by the CBJ this week, in Rio de Janeiro. According to an article in the newspaper “Folha de S. Paulo”, the president of the UPJ, the Dominican Jaime Casanova Martines, accuses the CBJ of trying, together with the Uruguayan federation, to carry out a “coup d'état”, to remove him from his position in the pan-american union.
Martinez threatens Brazil with disaffiliation, which would end the national judo's Olympic dreams, since article 1 of the statute of the International Judo Federation (IFJ) says that it only recognizes affiliations of member countries of continental entities. The Dominican also accuses the federations of offering money for air tickets, accommodation and many other benefits to the invited top hats. President of the Brazilian Confederation, Paulo Wanderley confirms the meeting in Rio, saying that it “is a private meeting of some Pan-American countries and has nothing to do with the UPJ, whose president is afraid of our actions and reacts with threats” .
– It is easier for the IFJ not to recognize the UPJ than to disaffiliate Brazil – disdains Paulo Wanderley, also stating that the meeting will have zero cost for the CBJ.

Fatal change? Makhachev ignores warning and could end tragically at welterweight!