Effect of vision impairment on match-related performance and technical variation in attacking moves in Paralympic judo

Abstract

In Paralympic judo for athletes with vision impairment (VI judo) all eligible athletes (i.e. B1, B2 and B3 classes) compete against each other in the same competition. Evidence suggests that athletes with more impairment may be disadvantaged, but that more sensitive measures of performance are necessary to understand the impact of impairment on performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Para sport class and technical variation, time-motion variables, and performance in Paralympic judo. All 175 judo matches from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games were analysed across 129 competitors (82 male and 47 female). The main results indicated that athletes who demonstrated less technical variation also experienced less competitive success, with the functionally blind athletes (class B1) demonstrating less technical variation than partially sighted (class B2 and B3) athletes (p < 0.05). There was no difference in the time-motion variables between sport classes (p > 0.05). We conclude that measures of technical variation are sensitive to differences in impairment and are suitable for studies that investigate the impairment-performance relationship in VI judo. Results further confirm that some athletes with impairment are disadvantaged under the current rules of VI judo.

A scoping review on Para Judo

“…In addition, it was found that sex and weight category were both variables that affected the temporal structure of the combat 16,17,41,42 . When VI was taken into account, it was observed that B1 combats were significantly shorter in comparison with B2 and B3 42,44,45 …”

“…Seven investigations aimed at determining the temporal structure of the combats through time-motion analysis 16,17,41–45 . According to the existing literature, one study found that compared with what is currently observed in sighted judokas, para-judokas showed shorter working sequences, longer pauses sequences, and a greater recovery time 43 .…”

World-ranking performance in judo athletes with visual impairment: An approach considering sport classes and weight categories

“…It has been reported that B1 athletes have lower competitive performance (e.g., scores and medals in World Championships and Paralympic Games; Kons et al, 2019; Krabben et al, 2018) and impaired technical-tactical and attacks moving performance in Paralympic Games (Kons et al, 2019, 2021). In agreement with these findings, Mashkovskiy and colleagues (2019) found that in the last 10 years, B1 athletes have been losing more often in matches with B2 and B3 athletes among both male and female teams.…”

Tactile and Auditory Stimuli Can Improve the Specific Physical Performance of Para-Judo Athletes With Varied Origins of Visual Impairment

“…Investigations have recently evaluated the performance of judo athletes with visual impairment, focusing on different aspects of seemingly relevant judo performance, particularly the time-motion structure of judo matches and the athletes’ technical-tactical performance (Gutierrez-Santiago et al, 2011; Gutiérrez-Santiago et al, 2020; Kons et al, 2019; Kons et al, 2021a; Krabben et al, 2018), the athletes’ percentage of victories in competitions over a period of years (Mashkovskiy et al, 2019), the assessment of visual function and its relationship to competitive performance (Krabben et al, 2021a, Krabben et al, 2021b), physical performance (Kons et al, 2021b), world ranking performance (Kons et al, 2021b), and the use of the Delphi analysis approach (Krabben et al, 2019).…”

“…The results of these studies showed, in general, that athletes with higher visual impairment performed more poorly in both competitive skills (e.g., technical variability) and physical performance (e.g., number of throws in a judo specific test) (Gutiérrez-Santiago et al, 2020; Kons et al, 2019; Kons et al, 2021a). Previous evidence-based classifications of judo athletes with visual impairment were based on a relationship between their performance in competition and their performance on visual assessments (Krabben et al, 2020a; Krabben et al, 2020b), with one classification based on expert opinions using a Delphi approach (Krabben et al, 2019).…”