Jan 4 IJF President Marius Vizer answers questions from all over the world via Twitter. He revealed tha North Korea is bidding against Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to host the 2017 World Junior Championships. Vizer also said Paris, Tokyo, Kazan, Baku and Cairo are in contention to host the 2018 and 2019 World Championships.
Jan 7 Tokyo Grand Slam winner and World medallist Euan Burton is appointed Scotland’s national high performance judo coach, taking over the position from David Somerville.
Jan 8 Russian President Vladimir Putin grants Russian citizenship to team manager Ezio Gamba, the former Olympic champion from Italy who successfully steered Russia's team towards 3 gold medals in London2012. He has been training Russian judokas since 2008.
Jan 12 Japan's Masashi Nishiyama retires from competition. He was a bronze medallist in London 2012. In his time, he has defeated great athletes such as
Ilias Iliadis, Tiago Camilo, Asley Gonzalez, Lee Kyu-Won and Elkhan Mammadov among others.
Jan 22 Legendary Cuban coach Ronaldo Veitia receives the IJF Golden Medal in recognition of his incredible career as the head coach of the Cuban National Team. Veitia, who retired after the 2015 Tokyo Grand Slam, had coached at six Olympic Games from 1992 to 2012, helping Cuba obtain 5 gold, 9 silver and 10 bronze medals. During this period, he also guided his athletes to 16 gold, 14 silver and 27 bronze medals at the World Championships.
Feb 6 Galbadrakh Otgontsetseg of Kazakhstan achieves her career best performance by winning the -48kg gold at the Paris Grand Slam, defeating her rival and former teammate Munkhbat Urantsetseg of Mongolia. Galbadrakh was originally from Mongolia but she switched to Kazakhstan in August 2015, a move which saw her rankings points go back to zero. With her Paris win, she is on track to qualifying for Rio 2016.
Mar 8 USA's Kayla Harrison hints that she might go into MMA after RIo 2016 where she aims to be double Olympic champion. At the Team USA media summit she said she has several career choices after Rio, and that: “MMA is one of the top two.”
Mar 12 Belgium's Ilse Heylen is the oldest player to have won a World Cup event at 38 years (and just eight days shy of her 39th birthday) after she won the gold medal in Casablanca. She is an Olympic bronze medallist and is aiming to qualify for Rio 2016.
Mar 23 Japan's Hiroaki Hiraoka, the -60kg silver medallist in London 2012, announces his retirement after failing to qualify for Rio 2016. He plans to continue his postgraduate studies at Tsukuba University and eventually become a coach. Hiraoka won three World Championships medals in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Apr 2 Hisayoshi Harasawa beats Ryu Shichinohe in the All-Japan (Weight Class) Judo Championships, giving him the edge for selection as the heavyweight in Japan'e Rio 2016 team. Both players have qualified for Rio but Harasawa is currently ranked ahead of Shichinohe.
Apr 3 Georgia's Beka Gviniashvili inches closer to qualifying for Rio 2016 with his win at -100kg at the Samsun Grand Prix. He normally fights at -90kg but in his path is his teammate Varlam Liparteliani, who is ahead on points. So Gviniashvili has to move up.