Women's judo will make its Paralympic Games debut at the 12th games in Athens.

The Paralympics' judo competition will be held from September 18-20 with the participation of 120 athletes.

The 94 male athletes will be divided into seven categories -- 60kg, 66kg, 73kg, 81kg, 90kg, 100kg and above 100kg. And the 36 female judokas, who are determined to make history in their debut of Paralympics, will compete in six classes -- 48kg, 52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 70kg and above 70kg.

As a Paralympic sport, judo originates from the Asian continent.

The first Paralympic judo competition took place in Rome in 1960.

However, judo was first introduced in the 8th Paralympic Games in Seoul, in 1988.

In the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, three famous judokas will try to defend their titles from Sydney: Cuba's Sergio Arturo Perez Hechavarria will seek to repeat his victory in the 60kg category,

while Japanese Satoshi Fujimoto and United States' Stephen Moore will try to maintain their crowns in the 66 and 73kg categories, respectively.

But Brazil's Antonio Da Silva, gold medalist in Sydney in the 90kg category, and Australian Walter Hani, the Paralympic title-holder in the 100kg category, will be absent in the Athens Paralympic tournament.

Source: Xinhua