Former Japanese judo champion Shinobu Sekine has passed away ©IJF

The International Judo Federation and the judo world is mourning the passing of former Japanese champion Shinobu Sekine, who has died aged 75.

The All Japan Judo Federation have announced that Sekine passed away on December 18. 

He had an illustrious career which included an Olympic gold medal at Munich 1972 in the under-80 kilograms category. 

Previous to that he won gold at the Asian Championships in 1966 in the same category and bronze in the open-weight category.

Sekine won gold at the 1972 All Japan Judo Championship ©IJF
Sekine won gold at the 1972 All Japan Judo Championship ©IJF

He then won bronze at the 1971 World Championships and gold at the 1972 All Japan Judo Championship.  

His other achievements include being ninth Dan of the Kodokan Judo Institute and President of the Judo Federation of Tokyo.