JUDO: Four Aussie judokas looking to push for automatic qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games have found the going tough at the Almaty Grand Prix.
In what is one of the final events prior to the rankings being finalised on May 30, the Aussies were unable to secure a win in Kazakhstan.
-90kg fighter Diego Barreto went down to Estonia’s Aleksandr Marmeljuk in his opening bout while Duke Didier lost to Italy’s Domenico Di Guida in his first round -100kg fight.
Nicolas Berard was unsuccessful in his +100kg clash with Egypt’s Islam El Shehaby as -48kg competitor Chloe Rayner lost out to China’s Shishi Xie.
Brothers Josh and Nathan Katz, Eoin Coughlan, Jake Bensted all sit inside in the top 22 Olympic rankings while Miranda Giambelli and Katharina Haecker sit inside the women’s top 14 which is needed for them to book their ticket to the Games. Chloe Rayner currently holds the additional continental quota position for Australia.
The final event that could disrupt the rankings is the World Masters Event in Mexico on May 27-29. Only the top 16 ranked athletes in each division will be competing at this event with Australia to be represented by Giambelli and Haecker.
Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au
