WITH a few more months to go for the most awaited 2020 Olympic Games in August, Karate Fiji is on low profile on their preparation.
Before to the qualifiers in May in Paris, they are still working on their preparation.
According to the Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee website Karate Fiji hopes to qualify an athlete for the sport which will feature for the first time in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Karate Fiji’s Laverne Qiolevu said they hoped to send an athlete (male athlete) to the final qualifying event in May, 2020.
“But to meet the criteria to participate, he must improve his current World Karate Federation (WKF) ranking,” she said.
Laverne said the athlete they had chosen had been participating at K1 Premier events, and the Oceania Championship earlier this year which had helped improve his ranking considerably.
“For this to continue, he must participate at similar events in the months leading up to the final May 2020 qualifier,” she said.
Laverne said the national coach was also working under the guidance of a mentor coach, both of whom are working closely with their athlete for the next event, which was the K1 Premier League in Paris, France in late January.
Karate, a martial art which originated on the Japanese island of Okinawa, will make its first appearance on the Games program at Tokyo 2020, with men and women competing in kata (forms) and kumite (sparring) events at the Nippon Budokan.
The Tokyo 2020 Games will feature two events, kumite and kata, with 80 athletes split 50/50 between men and women.
Eligibility will be determined by international rankings in the years leading up to karate’s Olympic debut with each country or region fielding only one competitor.
So far, only Team Fiji rugby sevens men and women have qualified.
