South Africa's judokas campaign to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games will start in earnest from next week when they compete at the World Championships in Doha. 

So far, only Tuks's Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Geronay Michaela Whitebooi, is on track to compete in Paris. She is 29th on the International Judo Federation's Olympic rankings. Whitebooi is guaranteed to improve her ranking if she wins one or maybe two fights in Doha.

She impressed last month during the Antalya Grand Slam Tournament in Turkey, winning three fights. It led to the Tuks judoka finishing seventh. The result made her coach Nikola Filipov smile.

"Michaela's is a world-class performance. The best of the best competes at the Grand Slams. If Michaela can keep her 'cool', there is no reason why she can't finish in the top eight at the World Champs.

"When it comes to fighting, Michaela is good enough to hold her own against any of the World's top 15 judokas in the under-48kg category. Unfortunately, her most significant weakness is that she often makes mistakes in the dying seconds of a bout. Judo is an unforgiving sport.

Mistakes often lead to losing a fight," Filipov explained. 

When saying this, Filipov, who will be the South African national coach at the World Champs, genuinely gets passionate.

"All South African judokas competing at Worlds have a realistic chance to finish at the top eighth. But they probably won't because of a lack of quality sparring partners. At Tuks, Michaela trains against 17 and 18-year-olds. The youngsters certainly benefit from duelling with Michaela, but it is not helping her. Michaela, and the rest of the national team, need to spar against judokas that will push them to the edge of their limits every day.

"All I can do as a coach is to ensure our judokas are super fit and hone their technical skills. But it is not enough. They also need to be tactically savvy.

"Michaela and Charné (Griesel) are currently at an international judo training camp in England, which is good because at least they get to spar against some of the top judokas. It is a pity I can't be there with them to see what they are doing right or wrong. I have asked an England coach to help them, but the reality is that they will not be his priority. And I can't expect it to be, as the England coach got his judokas to help prepare for the championship."

The TuksJudo head coach compares the dilemma the South African judokas competing at the World Champs face to going to fish without bait.

"It means when you get to the dam or river, you must start digging, hoping to find worms. We must find a way to better prepare our judokas for world championships because they will always be on the back foot competing against the best if we don't."

Interestingly the South African judokas competing at the World Champs are all from Tuks. The team is Thomas Breytenbach, Geronay Michaela Whitebooi, Charne Griesel, Donne Breytenbach, Jasmine Martin and Anastasie Nenova. 

The World Senior Judo Championships will take place from 7 to 14 May 2023 in Doha.