adminEllina Mhlanga
Sports Reporter
THE year ends on a low note for the Judo Association of Zimbabwe after missing out on the Africas Seniors Championships that were held in Antananarivo, Madagascar, this month but they are not losing hope.
Judo, classified as a high risk sport, is among a number sport codes that are still to get clearance from the Government to resume their activities.
Therefore they could not participate in the continental championships that attracted participants from 32 countries.
On the other hand their Olympics hopeful Christi-Rose Pretorius is also among the athletes that have had their plans regarding qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games suffering a setback.
The UK-based judoka is one of the athletes Zimbabwe is pinning their hopes on to make the grade for the rescheduled Games.
However, as the year comes to an end, JAZ president, Smart Deke, is not reading much into the lost time and opportunities. He is looking ahead with a positive mind-set.
“Our athlete, she has got very good chances to qualify in the category of +78kg in the African quota. She is also based in the UK, at the moment UK are also under very tough restrictions in terms of competitions and training and also on travels.
“(But) we are also hoping she might get sponsorship from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) through our ZOC (Zimbabwe Olympic Committee). We are still in negotiations with ZOC. I think they are also trying to help and assist the Olympic hopeful athletes that are trying to qualify.
“So we are hoping if that is given to us then it is going to be easy because at the moment that’s also the biggest challenge that we are facing. We had this whole year without any activity because of the pandemic.
“If she can just get assistance in terms of monetary issues she will be able to compete in all African continent tournaments and we know that at the moment Europe is the most affected area,” said Deke.
The national association applied for clearance last month and are now waiting for feedback from the Sports Commission.
Despite missing the continental championships this month, Deke said they hopeful of some positives next year.
“Unfortunately Zimbabwe at the moment we are still not yet being cleared to start our competition and training sessions as far as judo is concerned. The other African countries, including SADC countries, have resumed.
“They just had the African Championships in Madagascar.
“We couldn’t manage to go because we are still waiting to be cleared by the Sports Commission.
“We have already applied to them to be given permission under the Covid-19 rules and regulations that we are supposed to follow… As soon as we are given the green light to travel or to start participating from the Sports Commission I think we are going to resume our competitions, especially next year,” said Deke.
The national association is expecting 10 judo mats from the International Judo Federation next year.
This year they received 500 judo suits from the international federation.
They are also looking forward to the African Union Sports Council Region Five Games that were rescheduled for December next year in Lesotho.
Online Reporter