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Collin Matiza and Ellina Mhlanga
SMART Deke, the president of the Judo Association of Zimbabwe, has now added a feather to his cap. Deke, who was ushered in as the new president of JAZ at the beginning of this year, was recently elected by the International Judo Federation to lead Judo Education in the Southern African Region. This came after he attended the International Judo Federation’s Congress which was held ahead of the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, two weeks ago.

Deke, who replaced former top female judoka Debbie Jeans as president of JAZ at the beginning of this year, was elated about his latest appointment which will see him leading “the crusade” in the development of the sport in the Southern African Region.

“I’m going to help all the judo coaches in the Region to have a very high level of coaching qualification, which is the (biggest) challenge at the moment, and have our own qualified coaches which will reduce costs of sending people to be trained as coaches overseas.

“We will be having seminars for coaches in the Southern African Region and invite international coaches to train our local coaches.

“In fact, there’s a diploma coaching course which is being run by the International Judo Federation. It has three levels and at the moment we have nine Zimbabwean coaches who are doing it, so I’m going to oversee it as a supervisor,” Deke said.

And as they say “charity begins at home”, the seasoned judo coach also said that he was looking at setting up an academy in Harare and this will see him inviting top coaches from the sport’s powerhouse countries such as Japan.

“I’m seriously looking at setting up an academy that will specifically be for judo and then invite expert coaches from Japan to train our local coaches and athletes,” Deke said.

And for Zimbabwe’s representatives at the World Judo Championships in Budapest their participation was a key step towards what they hope would be a better future for the sport locally.

Zimbabwe had two judokas – Tapiwa Pavari and Brian Chiminya – carrying the nation’s hopes at the event that ended on Sunday. However, they were both eliminated in the first round fights.

Pavari took up the challenge in the Under-60kg weight division and Chiminya battled it out in the Under-66kg.

But with both of them making their debut appearances at the World Senior Individual and Teams Championships it was always going to be a tough task for them taking on some of the best in the sport.

Pavari and Chiminya could not go beyond the first round and they are now back home, hoping to make use of the exposure and experience from the global showpiece.

“It was an eye-opener for me although I went with high expectations. I thought I would reach the quarter-finals.

“I saw what is lacking in our judo. I realised that I wasn’t used to that level which is a huge problem for us here because we are not able to send athletes abroad.

“Judo is the same across the world but if you are not used to fighting elite athletes it’s hard to be in their league,” said Pavari.

Looking into the future Pavari, who is the local champion in the Under-60kg, appealed for investment in sport.

“One thing I realised is I have to find a sponsor to go and train abroad. We need a lot of help from the corporate world to get to that level.

“I think I know where I am lacking. I am expecting to train harder. My biggest wish is to find someone or a company to help the whole of Zimbabwe, the top athletes, to go and train. And compete in more international tournaments.

“I am expecting to go on a higher level now, because I am now on a different level,” said Pavari.

His teammate Chiminya feels lack of experience was their major downfall in Hungary.

“It was good but very tough because what happened some athletes had more camps than us and they were ahead in terms of experience, they have been to the World Championships several times. So experience was their advantage.

“My fight was very tough, I learnt that you have to be confident in what you do. There is need to take time when preparing for such big events,” said Chiminya.