San Jose, Costa Rica (November 10, 2005) With the participation of the referees that will direct the competitions of the V Panamerican Infantile Judo Championship 2005, Carlos Diaz, Director of the Refereeing Commission of the PJU, led the Referee Clinic today in the afternoon at the facilities of the Best Western Hotel Irazú in San José, Costa Rica. The technical committee was integrated by notable member of the Refereeing Commission, such as Julio Clemente, Joon Chi, and Fernando Cáceres. At this meeting, there were othe panamerican judo personalities, including its president Jaime Casanova-Martínez, Oscar Cassineri, general secretary, and Edgar Claure, general treasurer.

Mr. Casanova thanked the referees for their attendance to this important event, where the future of panamerican judo is playing on the tatamis.  "The Panamerican Judo Union proposed changes in the arbitration norms, soon after an error in the world championships in Osaka in 2003. We started to talk about the importance of the use of video delay in judo events, not with the intention of making the referee look bad, but rather with the intention of cooperating with him or her. Today we see with great pleasure how the refereeing commission of the International Judo Federation has thought of this issue more deeply and has started with the experimental phase. Video delay, which is a system where the auxiliary referees will see the action with a five-second delay, will favor the world refereeing, since it will offer a better clarity about difficult situations that escape the human eye. Please receive my regards, and I expect that during these two days you’ll make your best effort to benefit the children who will be competing tomorrow at these Panamerican Infantile Judo Championship”.