History of JUA

Judo Union of Asia came into existence in the year 1956 with 7 National Judo Federations as its members. Chinese Taipei, Cambodia , Indonesia , Japan , Korea , Philippines and Thailand were the Founding Members of JUA. The first President of JUA was Mr.Risei Kano, son of Prof. Jigoro Kano, the father of modern Judo. Mr. Risei Kano also had the honour of being the elected President of International Judo Federation.

The 1st Asian Judo Championships (Men) was held in the year 1966 in Manila , Philippines , and teams from 8 Member National Judo Federations participated in the Championships. The year 1970 saw the 2nd Asian Judo Championships (Men) in Kao-Hsiung , Taiwan , and the 3 rd Asian Judo Championships(Men) was held in Seoul , Korea in the year 1974.

JUA Membership has been increasing year by year. By the end of the year 1970, National Judo Federations from Sri Lanka , Malaysia , India , Pakistan , Turkey , Vietnam , DPR Korea, Burma (Myammar, at present), Singapore , Kuwait , Saudi Arabia , Bangladesh , Iran and Syria also joined JUA, thus expanding the membership to 23.

The year 1980 brought a significant change in the management of JUA, as Mr. Risei Kano resigned from JUA Presidency and his son Mr. Yukimitsu Kano, became the new President.

The 1st Asian Women\'s Judo Championships was held in Jakarta , Indonesia in 1981, along with the 4th Asian Judo Championships (Men).

China , Macau , Nepal , Palestine , Yemen were affiliated as JUA members during 1980s, and JUA Member base was further expanded to 32 when 4 countries from the Central Zone, i.e., Uzbekistan , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyztan and Turkmenistan joined JUA later on.

Another major change in the JUA Management took place in the year 1995 when Mr. Yukimitsu Kano resigned from the Presidency of JUA after serving JUA continuously for 15 years. Mr. Jagdish Tytler from India was elected the new President during the JUA Congress held at New Delhi .

By the end of year 1998, with the joining of Cambodia , Tadzhi kistan , UAE, Qatar , Laos and Lebanon , JUA Membership reached its present member strength of 39 Members.

In the year 1999, Mr. Yoshinori Takeuchi was elected President during the JUA Congress held at Wenzhou , China .

The first Asian Junior Judo Championships were held in Hong Kong , China in the year 2000, followed by the second one in Vietnam in 2001. Since then JUA is conducting Asian Junior Judo Championships every year.