The Kudo International Federation -KIF- carried out an intense period of international activity during November with the organisation of official continental seminars in South America and Africa, as part of its strategy focused on training, technical standardisation and federative development. These initiatives included the direct participation of instructors dispatched from Japan, alongside the coordination of several national branches.
The seminars were structured as continental events with shared content, centred on technical training, refereeing and belt promotion examinations, under the supervision of the KIF. Within this framework, Algeria hosted the federation’s first open African continental seminar, strengthening the role of the African continent within the discipline’s international calendar.
Africa, first open continental Kudo seminar
The African continental seminar took place in Algiers under the supervision of the Kudo International Federation -KIF-, with the participation of practitioners and federative representatives from Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Slovakia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The activity featured the presence of lead instructor Junya Yamazaki, dispatched from the federation’s headquarters in Japan.
From an institutional perspective, the event contributed to consolidating the regional federative structure and strengthening cooperation between national branches, with the support of Farid, head of Kudo in Algeria, and the collaboration of Matvey Myasnikov, President of the Middle East and Africa Kudo Committee and an international instructor certified by the KIF.
International coordination and federative standardisation
At an operational level, the African seminar included technical training sessions, a refereeing seminar and official belt promotion examinations, with participation exceeding 150 attendees and around 100 practitioners taking part in the main training sessions. All activities were conducted in accordance with the international standards set by the KIF, with particular emphasis on the consistent application of evaluation criteria.
Technical and refereeing standardisation was one of the central pillars of the programme, in line with the federation’s strategy to ensure a common foundation for training and officiating across different continents. This approach aims to support the structured development of Kudo and regulatory coherence among national branches.
Continental activity in South America
In parallel, the Kudo International Federation held a continental seminar in Porto Alegre, Brazil, organised in coordination with the national branches of Brazil and Chile. The activity also included the participation of instructor Junya Yamazaki, with the support of Torres, head of the Brazilian branch, alongside other local representatives.
The South American seminar featured training sessions and belt promotion examinations for practitioners from both countries, reinforcing regional cooperation and the application of the same technical and organisational criteria. Both the South American activity and the African seminar form part of the KIF’s international agenda, aimed at promoting the continental development of the discipline through official programmes supervised by the international federation.
