The judo national team is in Tunisia where it is competing in the African Judo Open Championships. Botswana is represented by Neo Nogampe (-70kg) and Neelo Modise (52kg) at the tournament, which kicked off yesterday and runs until Sunday. “Olympic qualification is hectic. We have a World-ranking list, where athletes find a good position to be the world qualifications or continental qualifications. Judo World Tour has specific qualifiers competitions being Grand Slam, Grand Prix, World Championships, Africa Championships, African Open and European Open. For a small country like Botswana, it is important to take part in these tournaments early because many world top class athletes are still resting,” national team coach, Rene William told MmegiSport from Tunis.
William said local athletes could gain points now and increase their position in the world rankings. He said it is always difficult to wait until the last year (2027) to push athletes for Olympic qualification. “You saw what happened last year with my judoka, Tumiso Phuthego (-70kg), who was in the continental quota until March 2024. But (due to) lack of competitions, he lost it, and it was so difficult to readjust his position. It was painful but there was nothing we could do,” he said. William said BJF wants to push to qualify eight athletes for the 2028 Olympics. He said there is need for more chances to qualify at least one or two athletes at the end depending on the funds and the support they will get from the government through the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) and the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC). Meanwhile, William said preparations for the African Judo Open Championships have been good. Nogampe and Modise will compete in junior and senior categories.
The two judokas have been awarded the BNSC Zebra Athlete Fund. “We did an external training the whole of December and January. This is our first competition of the year and it is also part of the World Judo Tour, which is an Olympic qualifier. We want to push this new talent especially that they are Zebra Fund beneficiaries, while waiting to hear from the BNOC and the BNSC for the Olympic circle qualifications,” he said. William said Nogampe is taking part in the African Open for the second time following her silver medal performance in 2024 in Angola. “She has to make the podium finish again, even if the competition will be high according to the number of European, American, and Asian countries which are here. For Modise, she is making her debut at this level. She is a talented athlete, but now she has to face world-class athlete (junior and seniors). She will learn and I know she will pull a surprise,” William said. He said as a coach, every competition is a time to learn and take note before the crucial and main events, which are coming soon including the African Senior Championships in April.
