By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –
THE Zambia Judo Association (ZJA) is sweating over the availability of sensational female judoka Abigail Chindele ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers.
Chindele, who is strongly in contention to represent Zambia at next year’s games in Brazil, is currently undergoing Police training at Lilayi Police College in Lusaka.
ZJA president Alfred Foloko is not certain on Chindele’s availability for international assignments but that the association is pondering on seeking permission from the Police Command to see if Chindele can be allowed to feature in the remaining qualifiers for the games.
Chindele, whose signature technique is ‘Kouchi-gaeshi’, is currently ranked 75th in the world in the 48kg weight category while on the Olympic Games Qualification (OGQ) chart, she is 71st, within the 100 threshold of earning Olympic qualification.
“Abigail (Chindele) is the frontrunner for Zambia in the race for qualification looking at where she stands now in terms of ranking and points but we are not sure at the moment if she can consolidate her position by participating in the remaining qualifiers because she is currently a Police recruit at Lilayi,” Foloko said in an interview.
Meanwhile, Foloko said the chances of Zambia having representatives at the Games were still high despite missing important points after failing to make the trip for the Africa championships in Mauritius last month owing to lack of funds.
Foloko said the association has forgone the Japan Grand slam that starts in Tokyo on Friday, due to financial challenges.
“The only hindrance we have are the finances, if only we can have a source of fund that can allow us to send our Judokas for all the qualifiers remaining, we can be rest assured of qualifying because at the moment, points are at stake and they need more points to qualify,” he said.
He said with a number of qualifiers yet to place around the globe, the Zambian judokas are still in contention to fight for the Rio slots.
“Our dream to qualify to the Olympic Games next year is not lost despite dropping points after the dismal performance at the All Africa Games and our failure to travel to Mauritius for the continental championship,” he said.
He expressed happiness with the Uzbekistan based duo Boas Munyonga and Mathews Punza’s efforts to garner enough points to boost their qualifying bid after they competed in the South Korean Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Slam last month even though they did not mint any medals.