FILIPINO-Japanese judoka Kiyomi Watanabe won’t be alone in her bid to reach the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Philippine Sports Commission will be there to support her win a qualifying slot.
PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said this some three weeks after 21-year-old Watanabe brought home the gold medal in the Asian Judo Open Taipei Judo Championships in Hsinchu City.
“Kiyomi Watanabe is a potential gold medallist to the Tokyo Olympics. And the Philippine Judo Federation is hopeful that she earns a qualifying slot,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez talked about the PSC’s support to Watanabe following a courtesy call Watanabe made with her mom Irene and PJF president Dave Carter.
In winning the gold medal in the Taipei meet, Watanabe demolished two Japanese fighters in the women’s 63-kilogram category preliminaries.
Watanabe, who is preparing for the coming Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Kuala Lumpur, outplayed Japan’s Chika Kudo in the finals.
She also got past Japanese Haruna Ota in the quarterfinals before stopping Taipei’s Yu Ching Cheng in the semi-finals.
“I can say this with condidence that we can qualify her for the Games,” said Carter.
This is Watanabe’s best finish this year after she claimed a bronze and silver in the Paris Grand Slam 2017 and 2017 European Judo Open Women in Austria, respectively.
Watanabe is currently ranked no. 23rd in the world.