The European Judo Kata championships as well as the Judo Show European Cup are being held in Malta at the weekend, starting tomorrow and ending on Sunday.

They are being held at the University Sports Hall, at Tal-Qroqq. The opening ceremony is scheduled to be held tomorrow at 3.30pm, but the programme starts at 10 in the morning with the preliminaries of three Kata categories - Nage No Kata, Ju No Kata and Katame No Kata. The finals of these categories will be held tomorrow afternoon at 4.

On Sunday at 10am, there will be the preliminaries of the Kime No Kata, Kodokan Goshin Jitsu and the Judo Show, the finals of which will be held at 4pm.

A few years ago, Kata was only a requirement for grading purposes and very little appreciated by the majority of the Judo members. Most of the judo competitors never even studied it.

Later the EJU gave it more attention, after President Sergei Soloveychik, when he was still Vice President, insisted that more attention should be given to Judo for All. More federations are now practising Kata and giving it its due importance. Now there is a more complete Judo covering Shiai in Competitions, Randori in Training Camps and Kata.

Addressing a news conference yesterday, MJA president Envic Galea said this will be the fifth edition of these championships, although the first two were only open to veterans. "Now they are open to all, and we have 19 countries represented in these championships being held here for the first time," he said.

In actual fact, 215 delegates, including the athletes, and 32 judges, will be attending this event in Malta. The countries taking part in Malta are Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Spain, Finland, France, Great Britain, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Sweden.

The Malta Kata Championships should be the final format which will be adopted as a whole by the IJF in their first World Kata Championships in 2009.

Galea added: "Although our Federation is a small Federation, we have always tried to be an active part of the Judo Family and in our small Island, we were first to Introduce the Blue and white Judogi, first to Invite South Africa on their re-entry from the apartheid suspension, we introduced the female categories and the team events in the GSSE. This year we will be also the first to host a new exciting section of Judo, the Judo Show.

John Zammit and his son Jerome will be representing Malta. This is the first time that Maltese Judokas are participating in such a championship. John Zammit is an experienced Judoka and the holder of the only gold medal ever obtained by a Maltese male Judoka in the 1997 GSSE. One can describe him as a Judo all rounder as he not only coached our very own Marcon Bezzina but he is also a European Judo Union Kata qualified judge. With this participation he will also be the first ever Kata judge to compete in a championship.

At the end of his speech, Galea thanked the Maltese Council for Sport, the European Judo Union, of which he is the secretary general, the sponsors and all the MJA members and helpers who lent a hand towards the organisation of the event.

Also present for the news conference was the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport, Mr Clyde Puli.

He congratulated the Malta Judo Association for winning the bid to stage the event in Malta, adding that this was another event which helped to boost sports tourism on the island.

He said such events also helped the country's economy. "The funds generated from such events will obviously help towards more investment in sport," he said.

Finally he augured success for the MJA and Malta's father and son participants.

What is Kata?

Kata (from Japanese "model"-"form") is a series of movements carried out following a meticulous sequence, through which the principles and the possibilities of techniques of Judo are demonstrated.

The techniques codified in Kata are examples of attack and defence, with each participant's role as Tori or Uke:Tori is the person doing the attack, whilst Uke is the person receiving the attack. Each technique is executed whilst illustrating precision in the sequence of rotation, breaking of balance, entry to the throw and the actual throw.

The Nage No Kata and the Katame No Kata are a selection of standing techniques and ground floor techniques, respectively.

The Ju No Kata is a series of motions and techniques executed very slowly, showing the principles of gentleness, softness, and smoothness.

The Kime No Kata represents the art of striking, and of winning the opponent, even if he is armed with a knife or sword.

The Kodokan Goshin Jitsu shows the use of Judo when applied as self defence.