THE South African Judo Championships start in earnest today with all the action taking place at NMMU's Missionvale Campus.
The tournament is being held in the Bay for a second consecutive year.
The weigh-in sessions for the nine, 10, 11 and 12-year-old categories were held yesterday with the fighting scheduled to start today in both the male and female categories.
The heavier fighters will weigh-in today with their competition due to start tomorrow.
All nine provinces will compete in the tournament with some provinces having more than one team.
Nelson Mandela Bay Judo and Border will represent Eastern Province at the championships.
There will also be a few fighters from other African countries like Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
The selection process for participation in the tournament is fairly simple, assistant tournament director and local organising committee member, Ben Gallant, said.
"Each province has trials in their respective areas. The competitors ranked first, second and third in their trials are then chosen to attend the national championships," Gallant said.
According to Gallant, about 5000 people will visit the city during the week long tournament.
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, the Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture and local tourism bodies came together to sponsor the event.
Judo South Africa marketing and communications director Rob Jordaan said: "Judo is the second biggest sport in the world for participating countries.
"It is also a massive Olympic sport and it was one of the first events which sold the quickest," Jordaan said. - Amir Chetty