LESOTHO’s Olympic Games hopeful, Michelle Tau, is hoping to qualify for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games at the African Qualification Tournament in Dakar, Senegal.

The Dakar taekwondo qualification tournament gets underway this Saturday until Sunday.

The Lesotho National Olympic Committee's (LNOC) Public Relations Officer, Fetang Selialia, confirmed that Tau would be among the African athletes vying for the Paris Olympic Games slot in Dakar this weekend.

Tau is desperate to qualify for what would be her Olympic Games debut with the Paris 2024 Games, which have been scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11.

 “Yes, Tau is going to fight in Dakar for the Paris Olympic Games qualification,” confirmed Selialia in an interview with Public Eye yesterday.

However, according to some local taekwondo experts who talked to this paper before and lately, Tau’s chances of qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games are extremely slim.

The experts based their analysis on the fact that Tau preferred -46kg over -49kg during her preparation for games, despite the latter being the perfect weight category for her towards booking a slot at the Paris Games.

This is also since 46 kg is not the Olympic Games weight category for taekwondo, with the experts saying Tau therefore wasted her time and energy competing in 46 kg in preparation for the Paris Games.

On the other hand, Selialia said LNOC’s main task is to ensure that the athletes qualify for the games.

“Our main task as LNOC is to make sure that our athletes qualify, hence, we have secured Olympic Solidary Scholarships for some of the local athletes, and Michelle Tau is one of them.

“She competed in -46kg in most of her recent outings and was doing well, but we have been informed (by local taekwondo experts) that it would be good for her if it were in -49kg.”