IBSA releases judo world rankings

Ukraine has the most top-ranked judokas with four, followed by South Korea with two. 25 Jan 2017

Zviad Gogotchuri of Georgia (blue) battles with Oleksandr Nazarenko of Ukraine during the Men -90 kg Judo Gold Medal match at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

ⒸBruna Prado/Getty Images

By IBSA and IPC

Five Rio 2016 gold medallists lead the judo world rankings as of 18 January, as announced by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA).

Judoka Zviad Gogotchuri won Georgia’s first Paralympic gold medal in history in Rio, and now tops the world rankings in the men’s 90kg, followed by Great Britain’s two-time Paralympic medallist Samuel Ingram.

Other Rio 2016 champions who lead the world rankings are South Korea’s Gwang Geun Choi in the men’s -100kg, France’s Sandrine Martinet in the women’s -52kg, Ukraine’s Inna Cherniak in the women’s -57kg and Mexico’s Lenia Ruvalcaba in the women’s -70kg.

Japan’s Makoto Hirose lost to Uzbekistan’s Sherzod Namozov in the men’s -60kg at last year’s Paralympics but still leads the rankings ahead of his victor.

Ukraine is the country with the most top-ranked judokas; apart from Cherniak, Davyd Khorava (men’s -66kg), Dmytro Solovey (men’s -73kg) and Iryna Husieva (women’s -63kg) also top the standings.

South Korea’s Jung Min Lee (men’s -81kg), Brazil’s Willians Araujo (men’s +100kg), Germany’s Carmen Brussig (women’s -48kg), and Belarus’ Arina Kachan (women’s +70kg) lead their respective rankings.

The judo season will kick off with the German Open in Heidelberg, between 24-28 February.

Full rankings are available on IBSA’s website.