Judoka experiencing major setback ahead of Olympic qualification
Local judoka Gavin Mogopa ‘s quest to qualify for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics suffered a major setback after the 24 year recently sustained an injury ahead of the Turkey open tournament. The tournament was meant to be his first in an endeavor to accumulate points for a top 8 position the 66kg weight category of the African rankings.
Mogopa suffered a knee injury and was forced to pull out of competitions that were lined up ahead of the Olympics. Thus there is fear that he will slip down the rankings which will be difficult to rectify and will put him back in the qualification slots. For the youthful Ramotswa native to secure qualification to Tokyo, he should be amongst the top 8 in the continental rankings by the time qualification closes in June. “I had a knee ligament stretch during training sparring so I have been off judo for three weeks and I was forced to pull out of Turkey open. I have since started training and I believe I’m ready to compete again but things have been moving slowly in terms of getting me to competitions. I’m feeling much better now and we are trying hard with high intensity to get me back on my best shape, “said Mogopa in an interview with Sun Sports.
According to the qualification criteria, there are 34 athletes who will be picked from the world rankings and another eight from each continent.
As it stands, the Ramotswa native is ranked 124th globally and 12thin Africa. Having missed the Grand Slam in Turkey, Mogopa will also miss the Pan American touring the Dominican Republic. “I missed two competitions which were on my plan for the qualification drive due to this injury. Another thing, I was to return to action this weekend at the South American tour and the African Championships in June but it seems like I won’t be travelling this week, “he said.
Mogopa has pinned his hopes at competing at the Africa Championships billed for Morocco from the 20th-23rdJune and the World Senior Championships in Hungary from the 6th-13thof June. Having qualified for Olympics for the first time in Rio in 2016, Mogopa seeks to obtain his second qualification to the global games.