Jeannine Meulemans (VJF) and the "Ligue Francophone de Judo", acting under the Belgian Judo Federation umbrella. The exams were held in Etterbeek (ESC), Brussels, before a national jury consisting of Jean-Marie Falise, Marcel Clause, Marcel Degroote, and presided by Abe Ichirō, 8th dan from the Kōdōkan in Japan. At that occasion she was praised by Abe Ichirō, for obtaining the highest score among all candidates irrespective of gender. In 1983 Meulemans retired from competitive judo after winning her 10th successive national title, though at club level she continued to remain for years a technically inspiring judo training partner to Sonja Maes and
Judo in the United Kingdom Judo in the United Kingdom The Japanese martial art Judo was first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1899, when entrepreneur Edward William Barton-Wright sponsored a visit from a team of Japanese judoka with the intention of establishing a jujutsu school in England. The introduction was not immediately successful, but some members of the team, including Yukio Tani, remained in England and gradually cultivated public interest in Judo and other types of jujutsu through demonstrations, instruction, and prize fighting. The United Kingdom's first Judo dojo, the Budokwai, is the oldest in Europe and was founded by Gunji Koizumi in 1918