The Georgian cadet and junior judo teams arrived from Japan two days earlier than it was planned. The reason of their arrival was the irritation of the locals by the Georgian sportsmen. The administration of the Tsukuba University where the Georgian delegation lived for two weeks pointed the guests to the door. The reason was the violation of the routine by the cadet and junior judokas. “World Sport” talked to Mamuka Kizilashvili, head of the Georgian delegation and the first vice-president of Georgian Judo Federation.

- Where did the Georgian delegation live and why did they have problems?

- We lived in the Tsukuba University. Besides us, about fifteen people lived there. The problems were created because of some cases which are not considered as a violation in Georgia and other countries.

- Which violations did not let the teams finish the meeting?

- The boys faced the first problem while cycling in the street. The old woman saw four strangers and she called the police. The problem was solved when the police found out that these strangers were foreign judokas who arrived in Japan for the practice. Speaking loudly was one of the violations. There was a fire extinguisher at the entrance of the room. You had to be careful not to fell. One day one of the sportsmen took the fire extinguisher and as he says he wanted to put it safer place when the powder poured out.

- Which caused the panic of the locals?

- There were not alarm and fire engines. These rumors were spread in Tbilisi to worsen the situation. The university administration applied to the Japanese Judo Federation to make us leave the university.

- Was anything named as the pretension?

- The abovementioned violations. I do not know what made the hosts irritated. Perhaps, speaking loudly. We found out that we received such severe sanction because of the age of the sportsmen. We were told that speaking loudly of the seniors is not a violation. But the juniors do not have its right.

- And did you know about it before the meeting?

- The Georgian national teams have held a lot of meetings in Japan but never faced this kind of problem. We took juniors and cadets to this country for the first time. The members of the team were astonished. We were practicing with the Japanese national and age teams and our boys had advantage. Perhaps, this made them angry.

- How did the Japanese Judo Federation react on the demand of the Tsukuba University?

- They offered us to live in the Kodokan University which meant that we had to refuse practicing with the local teams. We preferred returning to Tbilisi. Today we found out that the French age team also faced the same problem in Japan.

- The Georgian Judo Federation created a special disciplinary committee. You seem not to blame the sportsmen. What is to investigate then?

- The meeting finished two days earlier. The committee will discuss this incident and will receive information from the coaches and sportsmen.

- Will there be sanctions?

- It is not excluded but it is tough to talk about it now. The committee will make the official statement next week.

P.S. The press conference which evaluated the scandalous issue was a topic of discussion on almost all TV channels but one thing is strange – nobody, except two sports portal and one non-sport journalist of the morning program, has showed up at the Georgian Championship which took place at sports complex “Arena”. The Georgian Judo Federation applied to only TV channels to broadcast today’s press conference.   

Otar Maglakelidze