Watanabe eyes Japan training

Instead of joining the rest of the national team in its training camp in Metz, Kiyomi Watanabe will be going to Japan to sharpen her skills ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Philippine Judo Federation secretary general Dave Carter told DAILY TRIBUNE that the Filipino-Japanese judoka opted to stay at the Waseda University in Tokyo in preparation for her second consecutive appearance in the Summer Games 27 July.

Watanabe showed up to make a courtesy call to Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann on Tuesday shortly after confirming her Olympic qualification via one of the two continental quotas available for Asia.

“Training in Japan will be advantageous for her as she has sparring mates there,” Carter said in a phone conversation.

“She will go back to Japan in a few days.”

Sitting at No. 92 in the International Judo Federation ranking, Watanabe will be entering her second stint with fire in her eyes.

The 27-year-old judoka made an early exit after suffering a painful defeat to Cristina Cabaña of Spain in just 38 seconds in the Round of 32 of the women’s -63-kilogram class in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

She is also looking to erase the pain of a failed bid in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou last year, where she bowed to eventual bronze medalist Esmigul Kuyulova of Kazakhstan, 10-0, in the repechage.

But Watanabe is facing tough challenges in the Paris Olympics.

Cabaña and Kuyulova will be seeing action as well as Tokyo Olympics gold medalist and home bet Clarisse Agbegnenou, who has also won the 2021 and 2023 editions of the World Judo Championships in Budapest and Doha, respectively.

Tokyo Games bronze medalist Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard is also expected to vie for the gold in the women’s -63-kg event after winning the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England and the Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv editions of the IJF Grand Slam last year.

Asian Games gold medalist Miku Takaichi of Japan also made it along with last year’s finalist Tang Jing of China, who also qualified via continental quota.

Carter said while Watanabe is bound to face tougher opponents than her, he remains optimistic that she will be able to do better than her previous campaign in the Summer Games.

“We can only pray for better results for Kiyomi because of the way the system goes for the drawing of lots,” Carter said.