The International Judo Federation published yesterday the new world ranking. The reigning African junior champion of 70kg, Laura Rasoanaivo Razafy became world number one.
At the top of his game. Impressive progress, the reigning African junior champion at 70kg, Laura Aina Rasoanaivo Razafy writes her story and rises to the world roof. Ranked third in the previous ranking published on April 2, the JC de Saint-Michel judoka climbs two steps and settles, following the last publication of the world ranking of the International Judo Federation (IJF) yesterday, at the first place in the world for junior girls under 70kg. The gold medalist of the Indian Ocean Islands Games in Mauritius in 2019 has thus just achieved an extraordinary and historic feat, being the first Malagasy to position herself at the top of the best judokas in the world among juniors. “A sport that became a passion, a hobby when it started and today it’s the best story of my life… I’m number one in the world and I’m so proud of it. The path has not been easy, some doubts, ups and downs, failures, but above all a lot of lessons”, remarks the best world junior judokate following hearing the news.
Skyrocketing
Laura has had a more than impressive career, snatching six medals including five gold and one bronze in the space of just one month. She picked up two gold medals in the junior and senior categories at the Tunis Open, March 9-12. She then added another gold medal for juniors and a bronze for seniors at the African Open in Algiers on March 17 and 18. Then the daughter of 1992 Barcelona Olympian Luc Rasoanaivo Razafy recently netted a gold double at the Africa Youth Cup and Luanda Open on April 7-8. According to the new ranking published yesterday, Laura Rasoanaivo has become the world number one junior, she is credited with 500 points ahead of the German Samira Bock (466 points), the Czech Julie Zarybnicka (425 points), the Colombian Brenda Olaya ( 400 points) and Korean Jimin Yang (300 points). The adventure does not stop there for Laura Rasoanaivo. In her calendar, she will play the world championships for seniors in Doha on May 7, then the African championships for cadets and juniors in Madagascar in July, a month before the XI Games of the Islands of the Indian Ocean on the ground Malagasy, scheduled from August 25 to September 4. In search of qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics, she follows in the footsteps of her father, Luc Rasoanaivo Razafy, 71kg, the Olympian from Barcelona.
