Judo team kicks off Olympic qualification journey
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:22
Botswana Judo Federation (BJF) sent a team of 11 athletes, three women and eight men who competed in cadet, junior and senior categories. The juniors and cadets also used the competition as final preparations for the Africa Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 Games that will be hosted by Namibia. In the African Open Seniors competition, Botswana finished in position six with two medals, a silver won by Tumiso Phuthego (-60kg) and bronze claimed by Talent Peloyame (-60kg). The junior team won six medals, Neelo Modise (-52kg) scooped gold with Wangu Tyiyapo (-66kg) winning a silver medal. Jeff David also bagged a silver medal in the juniors -60kg, with two bronze medals won by Peloyame and Motheo Seitshiro. The only medal in the cadet category was a silver won by Pine Moreosele who was competing in the -48kg. Moreosele is the captain for AUSC Region 5 team. The team coach, Rene William Matike Ndoumber told Sport Monitor that the competition was part of the World Tour Judo competition qualifiers for the Olympics and Youth Olympics (Dakar 2026).
He explained that the competition assisted judokas to enhance their positions in the World rankings list for the Olympics qualification. “Secondly, the competition was meant to prepare our athletes prepare for other big events such as African Judo Championships, Grand Prix and Grand Slam. For the juniors and cadets, it is important to start our preparations for the next stage of their age range, so that they are not new in the circuit of high competition and also learn from the seniors,” he said. Ndoumber said as Botswana Judo, they started Olympic qualifications trail at the African Open Championships over the weekend, and they are looking forward to keeping the same cohort of athletes (seniors, juniors and cadets) throughout the Olympic cycle and also prepare for Olympics 2032. “I am impressed by the performance of my team especially that our last competition was in Zambia last year, August. What I have realized is that the athletes need more exposure to get more experience for a better representation of our country,” Ndoumber said.
Meanwhile, the African Open was won by Cameroon with six gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal, South Africa finished in second position with five gold medals, three silver and two bronze while the third spot was occupied by Madagascar claiming a single gold medal, one silver medal and three bronze medal. Zambia finished in nine after getting four bronze medals with Zimbabwe having a disastrous competition without a single medal. The competition attracted overseas countries such as Belgium, Great Britain and New Zealand.