"The date of the tournament falls on the last day of the emergency regime," said Nobuyuki Asai, the vice-president of the Japanese Sambo Federation and chairman of the Executive Committee for the tournament, according to TASS, Russia's official state news agency.

"Despite this, the competitions will be held as planned.

"Moreover, they will be organised without spectators."

There is set to be seven weight categories for men at the Championships, but women will not take part in the tournament.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in the Tokyo region as well as neighbouring Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, starting from January 7 with it set to expire on February 7.

The competition's full name is the Japanese Sambo Championships for the Cup of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

It is set to be the 47th Japanese Championship for sambo and the ninth edition as the Russian President's Cup.

Last year, the tournament attracted around 100 athletes.

Asai previously labelled the event "a strong friendly bridge" between Russia and Japan.

In 2013, it was used as a qualifier for the Universiade in Kazan, when sambo was part of the programme.

Japan won five sambo medals at Kazan 2013, finishing third in the medals table.

Sambo will once again be on the programme for the Yekaterinburg 2023 Summer World University Games.

To date, there have been more than 302,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in the deaths of over 4,230 people.

Japan's daily COVID-19 rate spiked on January 9, with over 7,800 cases being reported and 75 people dying.

Tokyo reported 1,502 new cases today, with the nationwide figure hitting over 6,500.