Birmingham 2022: Fijian judoka Takayawa takes away lessons from Games

Team Fiji judoka Tevita Takayawa says it takes a brave man to play the sport after he missed out on a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, yesterday.

Competing in the -100kg, Takayawa took on crowd favourite and hometown boy Rhys Thompson from England.

The Fijian gave a good fight but just a moments lapse of concentration saw Thompson claiming bronze.

Takayawa said this was one of his best events.

“Really disappointed with the loss but I’ll absorb that slowly. It was a great event and I’ll rate this within my top three.

“I’ve learnt a lot in this tournament as I haven’t competed in more than a year,” Takayawa said.

He adds after a couple of weeks break, his preparations for future events will resume.

“I haven’t had a cheat day for more than two months now. Haven’t eaten any burgers or cakes for a long time. It will take a few days to treat myself and then I will get back to training,” the soft-spoken judoka said.

Takayawa’s loss saw Fiji’s run come to an end in the sport at the 2022 Games.

Gerard Takayawa lost his first match to his opponent from Cyprus.