After Singapore heroics,Judokas eye Asian Games

But they did promise to do well in the forthcoming Rajiv Gandhi International Judo Championships at Jaipur next month,where they will compete with teams from Asia and Europe. Norway,Afghanistan,Singapore,Pakistan,Sri Lanka,Bangladesh are some of the teams that have confirmed participation.

yers praise coach
All judokas,without exception,gave full credit to Josef Czak,the foreign coach that JFI had hired last year. “He has been excellent. His training methods have helped us excel,” said Yashpal,who won gold in the 90kg class and a bronze in open category.

Both Virender,who works for the ITBP,and Jaya Chaudhary of the CRPF — they won a gold each — echoed his views. “We learnt quite a few vital techniques from the coach and they helped us a lot in achieving the end results in Singapore,” they said.

In fact,Jaya,who competed in the open category as well,claimed a silver medal.

The other gold medal winners included Aman Kumar,Navjot Chana,Manjeet Nandal,Ramashrey Yadav,Ranji Bala,Tombi Devi,Kalpana Devi,Jina Devi and Anita Chanu. Though Sanjay Singh and Garima Chaudhary had to settle for silver medals,they were happy for their team mates.

“We have won so many medals this time. I missed gold by a whisker,” said Sanjay.

The Hungarian coach,a silver medallist at the Barcelona Olympics,was happy for his wards. “The boys and girls are good. You can see that from the results. But they need good competition against Asian giants like China,Japan and Korea,” he said.

The coach also said that after the Rajiv Gandhi meet in Jaipur,the judokas will start preparing for the Guangzhou Asian Games in December. “That will be our major task. Winning medals at the Games will prove how good they are,” said the Hungarian.

Asked if the team will break for a holiday or any celebrations,he said there was no time. “Celebrations can wait. We head straight to Bhopal for a camp before reaching Jaipur for the Rajiv Gandhi meet,” he said.

Meanwhile,the second-stringers of the senior team at Bhopal will prepare themselves for the SAF meet beginning in Bangladesh from January 30. The team is expected leave for Dhaka on January 28.