Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican judoka Kevin Loforte has qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, bringing to seven the number of Mozambican currently attending the tournament.
Loforte recently missed the Budapest Judo World Cup as a result of a knee injury. He was counting on collecting points there to improve his world ranking and thus ensure attendance at the biggest sporting event of the planet.
But his position was not hopeless, as the bronze medal he won in May at the African Judo Championships in Dakar, Senegal, raised him from 70th to 67th position with 809 points, and therefore among the judokas benefiting from the International Judo Federation’s continental African quota.
The 24-year-old judoka was already calculating the odds of a possible reassessment or, better still, recognition by the International Judo Federation – and that is what happened.
Kevin Loforte will now be concentrating on recovering from injury and preparing for the event, according to a programme to be defined by the Mozambican Judo Federation in coordination with the Mozambique Olympic Committee (COM).
Loforte’s qualification brings the number of Mozambican athletes qualified for the Olympic Games to seven, including Deyse Nhaquile, Maria Machava and Denise Parruque (sailing and canoeing), Joaquim Lobo (canoeing) and Rad Gramane and Alcinda Panguana (boxing).
By
Aristides Cavele
