Former African Taekwondo Champion, Uzoamaka Otuadima has vowed not to miss the Olympics for the second time in a row.
The 2014 Commonwealth bronze medallist lost to Morocco’s Dislam Wiam in the semi-finals of the 2016 Rio Olympics Qualifiers in Agadir, Morocco.
Otuadima said her main target is to qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympics and better her ranking in the women’s +67kg.
She said, “I narrowly missed the 2016 Rio Olympics after been consistent from 2014 to 2015 where I won gold at the African Games in Congo. My first target in 2020 is to secure a ticket for Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics Qualifiers in Morocco next February and then prepare well for the Olympics proper.
“I was not happy when I saw the latest ranking released by the World Taekwondo but the only way to go is becoming more consistent in various National and International championships as well as winning. I believe that no sickness that will bring me down and backwards again this time around”.
The former African champion revealed to www.aclsports.com that she battled with health issues in 2019 season.
She said, “The challenges I had in 2019 was health related, it really affected me so much that money I converted funds meant for attending tournament to cater for treatment. This was one of the major reasons why I did not have a good outing this year”.
She expressed joy winning gold at the recently concluded Best of Best held in Abuja.
“I had a huge relief after winning gold medal in the women’s +67kg because I knew it was not going to be easy fighting the best fighters in my category. All my opponents were good but I am better”, Otuadima said.
