Judokas Sushila, Jasleen fight for one Olympic quota place

Budapest, June 5 (IANS) Sushila Devi and Jasleen Singh Saini will compete in their respective (women and men) categories at World Judo Championships, each aiming to earn more points than the other in bid to qualify for Tokyo Olympics."Sushila Devi will compete in the women's 48 kg while Jasleen Singh Saini will take part in the men's 66 kg group," a national coach told IANS ahead of the tournament which starts on Sunday.The eight-day long tournament in Hungary is the last Olympic qualification event and offers valuable world ranking points.Only one of Sushila and Saini will make it to the Tokyo Olympic Games starting July 23.Sushila, with 989 points, is the top-ranked Indian judoka while Saini has approximately 920 points in his kitty. Each win in the World Judo Championships will fetch a judoka 200 points and the one with most aggregate points in end of the month rankings will go to Olympics."Depending on the draw, anyone can improve their ranking. Since there is one continental quota place, the player with maximum points would be eligible to earn a ticket to Japan," said one of the athletes.More than 600 competitors, including 279 in women's category, will be in action in the tournament.Earlier in April, a 16-member Indian judo team had to pull out of Asian Oceania Olympic qualifier tournament in Bishkek as two athletes had tested positive for Covid-19 in the pre-event testing.
--IANS nns/kh