E-Paper
Garima makes cut for London
Garima Chaudhary on Wednesday became the only judoka from the country to book a London Olympic Games berth via a continental quota place. Sharad Deep reports.
Garima Chaudhary on Wednesday became the only judoka from the country to book a London Olympic Games berth via a continental quota place.
The 22-year-old from Meerut, who has been playing for Haryana for the last one year, made the cut in the 63kg category on the basis of the latest rankings released by the International Judo Federation (IJF).
"It's like a dream come true for me and I will make full use of this opportunity," Garima told HT from Patiala. "For the last one week, I was eagerly awaiting this news," said Garima, who finished seventh at the recent Asian Judo Championships at Tashkent.
Turkmenistan's 63rd ranked Gulnar Hayytbaeva is the other player to have qualified from Asia. With 34 points, Garima is ranked 88th in her category.
"Ever since I took up the sport in 2000, I've had only one goal and that is to win an Olympic medal," added Garima, who had earned four vital points during the Warsaw World Cup and the World Championships in Paris last year to be in reckoning for the Olympic slot.
On the pressures of competing in the Olympics, the strongly built Garima said, "It (pressure) won't make any difference as I come from a place where fighting against odds is a routine."
She expressed satisfaction with her London Games preparations and said the exposure trips in the coming months would help her sharpen her skills. Garima is set for an exposure-cum-training trip to either Cuba or Paris.
Tombi Devi and Divya Sharma had represented India in the 2008 Beijing Games.
