Mogopa chases Olympic slot in Russia
After failing to compete at the Turkey Open and Pan American tour last month due to a nagging knee injury,national team judoka, Gavin Mogopa is currently in Kazan, Russia to compete in the Kazan Grand Slam from the 5th to the 7th of May 2021.
Four weeks ago, the 24 year old ripped his knee ligament during training, an injury which cost him the opportunity to compete in various events that qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic games.
Mogopa who is a 2016 Olympian is seeking his second appearance to the games. However, having provisionally qualified for the games in 2019 ,Covid-19 pandemic ruined his plans which resulted in the athlete falling out of the top 8 rankings in the 66kg weight division of African rankings.
Speaking from Russia ahead of the tournament this week, Mogopa told Sun Sport that he is going to be as tactical as possible in order to avoid further injuries.
“I am more than ready for the tournament, the problem is just the injury, which might stop me from doing a lot of work because I hurt my knee two times weeks back during sparring. Nevertheless my coach believes we should this competition and fight more tactically.
This Russian tournament is a top level competition so it is imperative that I attend it because I am running out of qualifying events now. My prolonged absence can cost me a qualification slot to the Olympics,” said Mogopa.
As much as he was close to qualifying early this year on spot number 12, prolonged inactivity, lack of tournaments and frequent injuries has led to him falling down to the 18th spot in the rankings. Globally, he has fallen to 130th from 124th.
With him in his first tournament this week there is hope that gradually he will accumulate points and climb up the ranks and secure a ticket to the Olympics before qualification close in June.
From Russia, Mogopa will head to the Africa Senior Championships billed for Morocco from the 20th-23rd of May.
“I will also compete at the African Championships later this month because we hope the knee will be good by then.
The main aim is to compete at the continental championships because I want to get more points at the event and see where I will land in the rankings.
As soon as I finish competing here(Kazan) I will be heading to Cameroon where I will undergo a two weeks training camp until the continental championships.
So I do hope this will add improvements on my performances too. I’m still contemplating on the World Championships, depending on how I will feel after this tour,” he said.