The IJF 2012 Olympic Qualification Programme began on May 1st and will run until April 30th 2012.  Olympic qualification will be determined
by results in IJF World Cups, Grand Prix, Grand Slams, Continental and World Championships.

Olympic qualification is extremely difficult with only the Worlds top 14 Women and top 21 Men in each category guaranteed their selection
for the London Games. Since May there have been 9 qualification events in 3 continents (Europe, Africa, South America).  Through SportNI and
Irish Sports Council funding, Ireland’s Lisa Kearney participated in 5 of these events securing valuable qualifications points in Cairo (7th), Venezuela (5th) and San Salvador (Silver).  Lisa’s impressive run of form has forced her way into the current Olympic Qualification placings, sitting in 11th
on the ranking list.The first two qualification events ended in first round defeats (both to eventual Gold medalists) and the National Coaching
staff decided to miss the next series of qualifiers in order to concentrate on regaining the form needed to be successful at the Worlds premier
events.  Lisa competed at a lower level of competition through late May/early June at the higher weight category of -52kg and soon found her
winning ways. Gold medal victories in the English Open and the Venray International (Netherlands) improved much-needed confidence and focus. 
The final in Venray also provided Lisa the opportunity to avenge the 2009 GB World Cup final defeat to Britain’s Kimberly Rennicks.

The following 3 events produced progressively improving performances culminating in Lisa’s (and Ireland’s) second World Cup final appearance. 
That result moved Lisa up to 8th in the Olympic Qualifying ranking list, however two subsequent events in Russia and Mongolia where she did
not compete has seen her ranking slip to 11th.  There is, of course, a very long way to go in terms of Olympic Qualification but Lisa hopes
to build on this encouraging start at the next World Cup in Miami on August 27th.  Kearney will be joined by Macroom’s Lloyd Manning in the U.S
who has qualified to compete at his first World Cup after impressive performances in the British Open (9th) and prestigious Belgian Open (7th). 
Lloyd also trains full time in Edinburgh and his progress this year has been magnificent.  He was most impressive in the Korean training camp
in March and his coaches agree that a big performance is imminent.  Lloyd and Lisa will also compete in the U.S Open after the World Cup
(August 30th) where they will aim to bridge a 16 year gap since Ireland’s last medal winning performance.

The IJA’s third High Performance Squad member, Ian Byrne, has made a welcome return to full-time training. Ian has secured a placement at the prestigious Camberly Judo centre alongside the likes of Craig Fallon and Karina Bryant.  Ian has already competed successfully at -66kg at British regional events and resumed his international career with a strong performance at the Hamburg Continental Cup this week at his usual -60kg category.  Hamburg hosts the toughest European Cup of the EJU calendar each August, with most international teams using the event as a final preparation for the World Championships.  Ian Byrne, Lloyd Manning and Lisa Kearney all represented Ireland (self funded) at the event and are currently participating in the training camp. All three of the IJA High Performance Squad members are aged between just 19 and 21 years.  Both men are still in their teens whilst Lisa turned 21 just last month.  We would like to wish each of them the greatest success on their development toward world class international Judoka.

report by Ciaran Ward