Ovinou first up for PNG

RAYMOND Ovinou competing in judo’s  66kg division will be the first PNG athlete to compete this Sunday in the London Olympics at the ExCel North Arena 2 . A total of 36 athletes will compete in the  division. 
The competition follows an elimination format and is divided into eight pools.
Ovinou was drawn yesterday against A. Nazaryan of Armenia. If he beats the Aremenian, he will face the winner of P. Zagrodink of Poland versus L. Cunhal of Brazil – in his pool. The pool winners will then go for eliminations to end up with the final winners on the same day.The 28-year-old Gulf man has been training hard and consistently, but he had a right knee strain during his lead-up training. However, with care and management from the medical team, he has now fully recovered and is back into full training, but is being closely monitored until competition. He trains with other athletes for 90 minutes a day to maintain his weight and fitness. He should be ready by for competition on Sunday. Before coming to the Games Village to be with the rest of Team PNG, Ovinou trained alongside other Pacific Island judo athletes for seven weeks at Kendal Judo Club in Manchester under the watchful eyes of IJF coach Mike Liptrot.
Ovinou has trained hard for this and he is looking forward to taking on the best athletes in his division.
He has been a fine ambassador and has qualified on merit during the Oceania Judo Union Qualification Championships in Cairns in April. This may be Ovinou’s first Olympics but he is not one to be overawed, having already experienced training and competition around the world.
He as competed in four World Judo Championships – Rio de Janeiro (2007), Rotterdam (2009), Tokyo (2010) and Paris (2011). He also trained at the Oceania Olympic Training Centre in Samoa from June 2009 – November 2011.