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Uttar Pradesh 26 year old international judo player Vijay Yadav, according to the International Judo Federation (IJF) website, is the highest ranked male Indian athlete in the month of April.
Yadav, the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games bronze medalist in the below 60kg category, has 606 world ranking points in his kitty, the IJF world ranking list reveals. Tulika Maan, meanwhile, is the highest female Indian athlete. She competes in plus 78kg category and has 362 points in her kitty.
Yadav’s plan in the coming months is to accumulate as many points as possible. The more points he has in his kitty, the better it will be to achieve the 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualification through the continental quota system.
“Grand Prix, Asian Championship, and World Championship apart from the Asian Games are some of the most important events that enable individual players to earn good ranking points,” Jiwan Kumar Sharma, a senior national coach, said.
The quota is allotted to individuals with high world ranking points at the end of the qualification period, which is June 23, 2024. The qualification period for the Paris Olympic Games started on June 22, 2022.
Yadav said the coming months are crucial for him to stay healthy.
“I have to perform at my optimum level in international level competitions until the end of the qualification period of June 23, 2024,” Yadav told Sportskeeda on the sidelines of the Asian Games trials here on Friday. “The better performance in quality competitions will be an advantage to stay on track to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games.”
The national selection trials for the 2022 Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Hangzhou in September, are being held at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex.
Yadav, however, faced a stiff challenge in the final of the ongoing national selection trials in the men’s below 60kg weight and finished second. While Gulab Ali Mohsin of Services was declared the winner. According to Yadav, the 2022 Asian Games will be held in September and there could be a possibility for another round of selection trials.
“Asian Games will be a good platform to earn valuable points. If the second round of trials take place, I will give my best,” Yadav added.
Yadav, the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, will represent Indian in the next month’s World Judo Championships scheduled to be held in Qatar from May 7 to 14.
“The World Championship will be an excellent platform to earn valuable points to improve my world ranking,” Yadav stated.
