PH judokas begin World Judo Tour campaign

SIX Filipino judokas led by three-time Southeast Asian Games champion Kiyomi Watanabe will be seeing action in the 2017 World Judo Tour - Abu Dhabi Grand Slam beginning today at the IPIC Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Watanabe, currently ranked 22nd in the world, takes part in the women’s -63 kg. division against seeded players Kathrin Unterwurzacher of Austria, Amy Livesey of Great Britain, Andreja Leksi of Slovenia, Katharina Haecker of Australia, Magdalena Krssakova of Austria and Daria Davydova of Russia.

The 21-year old Filipino-Japanese judoka has been doing well in international competitions this year.

Besides her gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia, Watanabe also got a gold in the Asian Open Women’s Judo Championship in Taiwan and a silver in the European Open Women’s Judo Championship in Austria.

She got a bronze in the 2017 World Judo Tour–Paris Grand Slam in France and made it to the third round of the prestigious 2017 World Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August.

“We would like to thank Philippine Judo Federation President Dave Carter and the Philippine Sports Commission headed by Chairman Butch Ramirez and his commissioners including Commissioner Mon Fernandez for supporting Kiyomi as she aims to collect points to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan,” said Cebuana Irene Watanabe, Kiyomi’s mother who also serves as her mentor.

Also gunning for medals are the Filipino-Japanese Nakano brothers Shugen and Keisei as well as Kohei Kohagura, Helen Dawa and Roland Llamas in the event participated in by 290 judokas from 48 countries.

Shugen competes in the men’s -66 kg. with world No. 2 Tal Flicker of Israel, No. 3 Vazha Margvelashvili of Georgia and No. 7 Abdula Abdulzhalilov of Russia. Keisei participates in the men’s -73 kg. with Azerbaijan bets world No. 2 Rustam Orujov and world No. 5 Hidayat Heydarov in attendance.

Kohagura shoots for a podium finish in the men’s -81 kg. class along with Dawa (women’s -52 kg.) and Llamas (men’s -60 kg.).