Fil-Japanese judoka Kiyomi Watanabe with her mother Irene. | CDN File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu-born Filipino-Japanese judoka Kiyomi Watanabe has officially qualified for next month’s Tokyo Olympics.
Although there has been a lot of talks that she’s already qualified, but earlier today, the International Judo Federation (IJF) itself officially revealed the official list of the Olympic qualifiers via the continental quota rankings which include Watanabe.
The 24-year old Watanabe, the daughter of Toledo City native Irene Sarausad is ranked 41st in the women’s -63-kilogram category. She has a total of 1,506 points.
She will go up against the world’s best female judokas in the division currently topped by French judoka Clarisse Agbegneno.
Other strong contenders in Watanabe’s division include Tina Trstenjak of Slovenia and Miku Tashiru of Japan who are ranked No.2 and No. 3 in the division, respectively.
Watanabe joins fellow Cebuanas Margielyn Didal and Elreen Anne Ando in the quadrennial meet. Didal qualified in the skateboarding event while Ando qualified in the weightlifting competition.
Watanabe already won four gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games and a gold in the Asia Youth Judo Championships. She bagged a silver medal in the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Filipina Kristina Marie Knott celebrates after winning the women’s 200m final at the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the Athletics Stadium in New Clark City, Tarlac on Dec. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
Also announced today was the qualification of Filipino-American sprinter Kristina Knott. Knott officially qualified for the Olympics after receiving a university place in the 200-meter women’s competition from the World Athletics Federation.
Knott dazzled the 2019 Southeast Asian Games hosted by the country by scoring a sprint double after winning the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter races in the process breaking the decades-long record of the legendary Lydia de Vega in both events
In total, 15 Filipinos have so far qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.
Aside from Watanabe, Didal, Knott, and Ando, the rest of the Tokyo-bound athletes are Eumir Marcial (boxing), Carlo Paalam (boxing), Irish Magno (boxing), Nesthy Petecio (boxing), Cris Nievarez (rowing), Kurt Barbosa (taekwondo), Jayson Valdez (shooting), Carlos Yulo (gymnastics), Hidilyn Diaz (weightlifting), EJ Obiena (pole vault) and Juvic Pagunsan (golf). /rcg