On Saturday the 8th of March, four judokas of the Vanuatu national team will participate in a major international competition in Brisbane. The competition has attracted entrants from all Australian states, New Zealand and Japan.

Vanuatu will be represented by Rexly Theuil under 66kg, Joe Mahit (who participated in the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro in August 2013) under 66kg, and new athletes to the Vanuatu Judo Team, Tom Willie under 73 kg and Jean Patunvanu under 73kg. These four team members (along with four others) have been long-listed for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Ted Drew and Florence Daoleuang, coaches of the national team, will accompany and assist the athletes during the tournament and subsequent one week training in Brisbane.

This will be the first of several tournaments and training opportunities overseas for potential judokas for the Glasgow Games. Six of the eight will represent Vanuatu in Glasgow.

This is part of a training programme which has been funded by the Glasgow Commonwealth Games via VASANOC leading up to the Games in July 2014.

Federesen Blong Judo Blong Vanuatu is appreciative of the assistance it has gained from the Commonwealth Games and VASANOC. The Team is training hard for Vanuatu.