Double gold for New Zealand at 2015 Oceania Judo Championships

 

Judo's power couple of Moira De Villiers and Jason Koster have been crowned the Oceania champions for 2015, after capping off an outstanding 2015 Oceania Championships for the New Zealand team in Noumea, New Caledonia. New Zealand's medal tally at the conclusion of the competition included a notable two gold, four silver and two bronze.

 

Not only did the judo duo claim gold in their respective weight classes but De Villiers claimed her sixth consecutive Oceania title and Koster claimed his third consecutive championship.

 

Moira De Villiers was delighted with her performance at the Oceania Championships "This result was a great way to cap off a successful few months. I'm now looking forward to getting home and beginning my build up towards worlds in August. While it's nice to win six in a row the main goal is Rio."

 

Oceania Gold medallist Jason Koster is firmly focused on Rio also "I'm very happy to get the win in Noumea. After the disappointment of missing out on London it is great to be on track for Rio. There's still a lot of work to be done in the next year but I feel a lot of confidence in my Judo at the moment."

 

Overall Judo New Zealand has been impressed with the standard of the New Zealand's team performances at this tournament.  Judo New Zealand National Coach Robert Levy said the performances of the team have been impressive after fighting off some strong opposition "There was very tough competition coming from a well prepared Australian team who completed a solid build up in Europe ahead of the Oceania champs."

 

"We are pleased with the New Zealand performances especially with our two golds coming from Moira de Villiers and Jason Koster. Backing up performances over a number of years is not an easy task, so we must applaud them. In addition to Moira and Jason we can be proud with New Zealand coming home with a multitude of silver and bronze medals. Overall we have had not only an impressive tournament but an inspiring one for our judokas."

 

"Moira and Jason have shown they are on track for the Rio Olympics and Adrian Leat, Ivica Pavlinic and Darcina Manuel are all positioned to step up their game again for the next major competition in a few months' time. They will all hope to have a good world championships campaign in August and continue to build their case for qualification for Rio" Levy said.

 

The Oceania championships have provided a great stepping stone for the New Zealand judokas to aid them in scoring important points in the lead up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Many of the New Zealanders will see an improvement in their world rankings after this event, which in turn will assist them in qualifying for Rio. Rankings prior to the Oceania Championships saw many of the New Zealanders in the top 30 including De Villiers who is placed 18th in the world, Koster 19th, Pavlinic 22^nd, Manuel 24^th in their respective weight classes.

 

Rio 2016 judo qualification requires men in each of the seven weight categories to aim for a top 22 ranking on the International Judo Federation (IJF) World Ranking List as of 30 May 2016 for the first quota spots. Those top 22 men will directly qualify for Rio, with a maximum of one athlete per nation per weight category. For the women in each of the seven weight categories, the requirement is to be one of the top 14 athletes listed on the IJF World Ranking List as of 30 May 2016. The top 14 will directly qualify for the 2016 Games. There is a maximum of one athlete per nation allowed. An additional 100 athletes will qualify as per the IJF World Ranking List of 30 May 2016 based on continental representation. Out of the 100 placings available through continental representation the Oceania region has seven male and three female spots available.

 

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New Zealand Medal Tally from the 2015 Judo Oceania Championships:

 

Gold:

Jason Koster (M 100kg) Third consecutive OJU title

Moira De Villiers (W 70kg) Sixth consecutive OJU title

 

Silver:

Darcina Manuel (W 57g)

Lee Calder (M 73kg)

Samuel Rosser (M +100kg)

Justine Bishop (W 66kg)

 

Bronze:

Alex Bishop (M 66kg)

Adrian Leat (M 73kg)

Ivica Pavlinic (M 81kg)