ZIMBABWE Judo Association (ZJA) president Debi Jeans believes newly-appointed national coach, Japanese national Tomohiko Kanamori, will take the sport to the next level as they look to lay a solid foundation ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. DANIEL NHAKANISO SPORTS REPORTER
Kanamori, whose move to Zimbabwe was facilitated by the Japanese International Co-operation Agency, arrived in the country on Tuesday.
“We are delighted to have Tomohiko Kanamori as our coach for the next six months and we would like to thank Japanese International Co-operation Agency for all their assistance. They have paid for everything to ensure he comes here and we are very grateful for their support,” Jeans told NewsDay Sport in an interview yesterday.
“The last time we had a foreign coach was some 10 years ago and we are very confident that his presence will take local judo to the next level. He will be assisting us with our various development projects as we look to capitalise on the recent success at the Region V Youth Games. He will also be taking over the role of national coach,” she said.
Jeans said while chances of local Judokas qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics were very slim, she was confident the country would be represented the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. “Our chances of qualifying for next year’s Olympics are very slim . . . However, based on the results from we had from the Region V Games we are very confident that we will have local judokas qualifying for the next Olympics in Tokyo,” she said.
Local Judokas put on a good perfomance in their debut appearance at the African Union Region V Youth Games winning a total of seven medals, 1 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze.
