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 Canada judo are that judoka with visual impairments take hold of their opponent before the start of the match, and the mat has different textures to indicate zones and the competition area. Judo for the visually impaired has a long history in Canada and, according to a newspaper article published in 1952, Ottawa was the home of the only judo club for the blind in the world at the time. In most circumstances, however, visually impaired and sighted judoka belong to the same clubs and practice together. Canada was first represented in international competition by brothers Pier Morten and Eddie Morten