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.
