Takayawa aims for a spot

FIJI’S top judoka Tevita Takayawa says the hardships of last year has given him a rejuvenated strength in his hunt for an Olympic Games spot.

“The year 2020 has been a challenging year mentally and emotionally,” Takayawa said.

“It has taught me to persevere, be patient and relentless in training as well as give me a lot of time to self-reflect and reignite my passion for judo while continuing on my journey towards the Tokyo Olympics.”

Recovering from a knee injury which saw him require surgery last year, Takayawa said the road to recovery had been slow.

“Doing rehab and slowly transition into judo training without rushing into competition was a positive I could take out of this challenging time. “And I look forward to continuing the road to the Olympic Games. First up on the road to Tokyo is The International Judo Federation Doha Masters that begins next week with Takayawa saying his only opponent at the moment is the closed borders.

“I will have to hope that this pandemic doesn’t worsen just for the sake of travelling in and out of Japan.

“I am scheduled to fight in Doha, Qatar but Japan has shut down their airports because of another spike of COVID-19 cases and I don’t want to risk being stranded outside of Japan.”

Takayawa said, the limitations caused by the pandemic would not deter him from achieving his results.

“My goal is to earn consistent results from competitions this year and attend as many training camps as I can before heading to the Olympic Games.”

My goal is to earn consistent results from competitions this year and attend as many training camps as I can before heading to the Olympic Games