Over 78-kg world silver medalist Maki Tsukada will be among the top judoka competing at international tournaments in Europe from January, the All Japan Judo Federation said Monday.
Tsukada, who won the gold medal at the recently concluded Fukuoka International Women's Judo Championships, and 52-kg world bronze medalist Yuki Yokosawa will both take part in an international meet in Paris on Feb. 7-8.
Meanwhile, six-time consecutive world champion Ryoko Tamura, four-time consecutive world champion Noriko Anno and two-time consecutive world champion Masae Ueno will train in Europe with the women's team but not compete at any tournaments.
The three will instead tune up for the women's weight-category national championships, which also serves as the final qualifier for the Athens Olympics, to be held April 11 at Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium.