CHENNAI: Despite only two Indians making the cut on the basis of their rankings for the World Championships, one judoka will miss the event as the tournament is clashing with the 2022 Gujarat National Games. Top-100 judokas in world rankings directly qualified for the Worlds scheduled from October 6 to 13 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Tulika Maan, the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, along with Huidrom Sunibala Devi from Manipur, secured the berths given their world rankings of 91 and 97 in their respective weight categories of +78kg and -63kg. However, the latter has to miss the international event as there is only a day gap between her bout at the National Games and Worlds.
"Sunibala's event at the Games is on October 8 while the Worlds bout is scheduled the next day. She will also compete in the -70kg in team event in Gandhinagar which is on October 12. So it will not be possible for her to compete in Tashkent," L Dinit Singh, Manipur women's team coach, told this daily.Even the World Table Tennis Championships is scheduled to begin on September 30 in China because of which the National Games organisers advanced the start of the event in the country.
Judo Federation of India (JFI) also tried to organise Sunibala's bouts on Day 1 of the judo event but to no avail. "We thought of holding her bouts on October 7 and then flying out of the country immediately but the flight was not available," added the coach.
Sunibala, meanwhile, won -63kg gold at the All India Police Games held in New Delhi on Saturday and qualified for the World Police Games. The coach said they are now targetting a couple of Grand Prix events, which will also be qualifying tournaments for the 2024 Olympics.
As far as Tulika is concerned, she is expected to leave for the Worlds after competing at the Games on the first day of the competition. "My bout is after October 10, so I will compete at the Games and then leave for the Worlds," Tulika told this daily.