2nd International Judo Tournament For Russian Presidential Cup Held In Novokuznetsk

The second international judo tournament for the Russian Presidential Cup opens on Saturday, December 22, in Novokuznetsk, southern Siberia. Ten national teams from Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Rumania, France and Iran will participate in the tournament. Russia will be represented by two teams -- Russia-1 /Yavara-Neva club/ and Russia-2 /Siberia team/. The organising committee of the tournament is led by Leonid Drachevski, Russian presidential plenipotentiary in the Siberia federal district, and Aman Tuleyev, governor of the Kemerovo region. The Russian teams are made up of well-know judoists, such as world champion Vitaly Makarov and Alexander Mikhailin. The prize money of this tournament will as before be 250,000 dollars. This time it will not be distributed between all participant teams but only among the prize winners /the first, second and third places/ for boosting the interest of participants and, in the final count, for making the event more attractive. The first international judo tournament for the Russian Presidential Cup was held in Magnitogorsk on December 9, 2000. It participants were, alongside the victorious Russian team, the best sportsmen from Japan, Germany, Rumania, Belarus, Uzbekistan, France and Hungary. A third tournament will be held in Magnitogorsk next year, a fourth in St.Petersburg in 2003 /it will be timed to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the city/.