CEBUANA judoka Kiyomi Watanabe is almost assured of qualifying in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Philippine Judo Federation president Dave Carter said only the Top 26 judokas in the world in each weight class will qualify to compete in the Tokyo Olympiad next year.
Watanabe, the country’s top female judoka, is currently ranked 23rd in the world ranking in the women’s -63kgs. All she has to do is to join all remaining Olympic qualifying tournaments to maintain her ranking.
Carter said that Watanabe’s chance of directly qualifying in next year’s Tokyo Olympic summer games is highly probable because several countries have more than one judoka in the Top 26 of the women’s 63-kilogram division. The countries are only allowed to field one entry per weight class in the Olympics.
Carter added countries like Japan have four judokas in the Top 26 ranking, while Great Britain has three. Other countries like Netherlands, Slovenia, China and Brazil have more than one.
Watanabe is competing in the Osaka World Championships next month, just before the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which is the last Olympic qualifying for the year.
Watanabe is set to compete in three more qualifying tournaments next year just before the cutoff in July.
“Slots in the Tokyo Olympics are our bigger targets,” Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William Ramirez said. “We are looking at more Filipino athletes qualifying in the Tokyo Games after gymnast Carlos Yulo and pole vaulter EJ Obiena.”
“But we should not forget that the SEA Games are also just around,” Ramirez added. “The PSC is all out in its support to the athletes for a better placing this time as we are hosting the biennial meet.”
Watanabe, who is a three-time SEA Games gold medalist in her weight class, is eyeing her fourth gold medal in the 30th SEA Games, which is set on Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
The judo competition will be held on Dec. 4 to 7 at the Laus Group Events Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Carter is also confident of the Philippine Judo Team’s chances of winning six to seven gold medals out of the 16 judo events in the SEA Games.
The other five Filipino-Japanese judokas competing in the SEA Games are Maria Takahasi, Heisei Nakano, Shugen Nakano, Shin Matsumura and Riyoko Salinas. (RSC with PR)