MANILA – Two more Filipino athletes were qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan.
This after the International Judo Federation on Wednesday announced that Filipina-Japanese judoka Kiyomi Watanabe gained a spot in the Summer Games via continental quota in the women’s -63-kilogram division.
The Cebuana judoka ranked 41st in the Olympic rankings with 1506 points following her strong showing in the 2019 World Championships, where she amassed 320 points.
The 24-year-old Watanabe had a fifth-place finish at the Asia-Oceania Senior Championships recently. She also competed in the 2021 World Championships.
Watanabe had her success while carrying the country’s colors in the Southeast Asian Games, where she won gold in 2019 and a bronze medal in the 2011 edition. She was a gold medalist and in the 2014 Asian youth Judo Championship.
She also stretched the Philippines’ streak in the Olympic participation in the sport after Tomohiko Hoshina in the 2012 London Olympics and Kodo Nakano in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
On the other hand, Filipina-American sprinter Kristina Knott became the 15th Filipina athlete and second athletics player to compete in the Summer Games slated from July 27 to August 8 due to universality rule.
The 25-year-old Knott will play in the women’s 200 meters sprint event. She joined several competitions to help her secure a Tokyo Olympics spot.
Knott bagged gold medals in the 200 meters and the 4×100 meters mixed relay events and silver medals in the 100 meters and 4×100 meters relay in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games held in the Philippines./PN
