NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 13 – Tokyo Olympian Faith Ogallo says she is determined to win gold at this weekend’s Africa Taekwondo Championships in Kigali, Rwanda.
Ogallo said the four-day tournament – beginning July 13-17 – is the perfect stopover on her journey to achieving her World Championship and Grand Prix dream.
“It (Africa Taekwondo Championship) is significant for me because winning gold would really boost my rankings and put me in a great position to qualify for the World Championship as well as the Grand Prix. Last year, I won bronze at the Africa Championships in Dakar and this time I believe I can do better,” Ogallo said.
After her outing in Senegal in June last year, the 2019 All Africa Games silver medalist in +73kg category made history as the third Kenyan taekwondo athlete to feature at the Olympics after Milka Akinyi and Dickson Wamwiri at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Ogallo spoke of how the experience at the continental showpiece as well as the summer games in Tokyo have sharpened her.
“When we went to Dakar, we were in the midst of the CIVID-19 pandemic and we had not trained as well as we would have liked. They had also introduced new rules such as being penalised for lifting your knee for more than three seconds without kicking. This cost me in Senegal and heading into Tokyo I had to familiarise myself with these new rules. Now I am knowledgeable about them,” she said.
For all her growth, Ogallo knows it won’t be a smooth-sailing campaign in Kigali .
“I do not know yet who I will be drawn against in the first match …maybe that will be clear by Friday night. However, there are quite a number of competitors who I can say are favourites, such as Aminata Traore (African champion) of Senegal, Toka Shaaban (silver medalist) of Egypt and Fatima-Ezzahra Aboufaras (bronze medalist) of Morocco,” she said.
Apart from taekwondo, the Kibabii University graduate has been touring secondary schools in the Western Kenya region to mentor students.
“With the help of Dr Robert Wafula from Kibabii University, we have been moving around schools in the region because we realised it was one of the most affected areas by the spate of unrest in schools. Some of the issues we have been tackling as part of this mentorship programme include violence and climate change,” Ogallo said.
She added: “I have also been researching a lot on sports and sustainability. I realised that different areas have different challenges as far as the environment is concerned. In an urban area like Nairobi, these issues may include air and water pollution whereas rural areas may be more affected by deforestation.”
Ogallo will be competing in the kyorugi category, which involves sparring – the other category being poomsae (demonstration).
Thirty-seven countries are expected to send representatives to the championship, which will be staged at the BK Arena.
