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Indonesian judokas dream of wild card for Tokyo Olympics
The Tokyo Games require judokas to be in the top 18 in the world rankings to qualify, however Indonesian women and men judokas are only in the top 200 and 300, respectively.
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Indonesian judoka Ni Kadek Anny Pandini, who is also a member of the Women's Army Corps. Anny won the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medal in the women's -57 kilogram category in the Philippines. (Tribunnews.com/Tribunnews.com)
I
t has been eight years since an Indonesian judoka last competed at the summer Olympics. At the London Games in 2012, Putu Wiradamungga was knocked out in the second round by Laszlo Csoknyai of Hungary.
At that time, Putu was a breath of fresh air as he strived to continue the legacy left by his predecessor Krisna Bayu. Before Putu, Krisna was the last Indonesian judoka to compete at the Olympics where he managed to qualify in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 tournaments.
With the Tokyo Olympics' qualifying round nearing an end, the Indonesian Judo Federation (PJSI) can only hope for the miracle of a wild card given by the International Judo Federation (IJF) -- looking at the fact that Indonesian judokas are without much hope in the current race to a Tokyo place.
In order to qualify for the Olympics in July and August, the national judokas must make the top-18 in the ranking.
As of Wednesday, Indonesian judokas only managed to get in the top 200 with Dita Ananda, who competes in the women’s -48 kilogram category, ranked 163th. The 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist, Ni Kadek Anny Pandini in the women’s -57 kg, trailed at 176th.
Things are even gloomier in the men's category with Indonesian judokas only making the top-300s ranking.
The Tokyo qualification period will end on May 30.
