Nicosia: President of the Cyprus Olympians Association, Costas Papacostas, is among the recipients of the 2025 Spring Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals announced on Tuesday by the Government of Japan. The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays award will be given to Papacostas in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the promotion of Judo in Cyprus and the strengthening of ties between Japan and Cyprus, a press release by the Embassy of Japan in Nicosia said.
According to Cyprus News Agency, Costas Papacostas is a former Olympic judoka who represented Cyprus at the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He formally trained with Japanese nationals at the Tokai University in Japan. He remained deeply engaged in the sport-first as a competitive athlete, then as coach of the Cyprus National Judo Team-contributing significantly to the development and promotion of Judo in Cyprus.
Following his retirement from active competition, Papacostas has continued to foster cultural exchange by delivering lectures on Japanese culture and by sharing his experiences of Japan.