On her quest to gain Olympic selection points, Qona has been based in Camberley in the UK.
Her most recent effort has been in Qatar at the Doha World Championships.
Qona has already made history for the Wellington Judo Association as the first from the Area to attend Junior World Championships (along with Al Rivett) and most recently, the Commonwealth Games.
Her first World Championships saw her matched with Bakyt Kussakbayeva of Kazakhstan in the Women’s Under 57kg Class.
Qona defeated her opponent by Ippon with Juji Gatame, allowing her to advance to the second round.
This link has Qona’s fight on it at 7:15. The Judo Highlights channel has some great competition footage on it, is well edited, and it run by a New Zealander. It is worth subscribing to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDwqOhhQoRc
In this round, Qona was paired with the Mongolian, Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo who beat Qona, eventually taking Bronze in the category.
Congratulations to Qona on doing what few New Zealanders manage to do and get past the first round at the top level.
The Academy looks forward to supporting Qona on her next adventure
