JOSHUA Koh’s 2020 Tokyo Olympic dream is back on track as the fencer managed to raise enough funds to prepare for the Asian Zone qualifiers in South Korea on April 15-16.
The 29-year-old went public last month by taking up a crowdfunding approach for his four-month training-cum-competition stint in Italy, under coach Enrico di Ciolo.
The Selangor-born managed to raise RM60,000 via the initiative and private sponsors.
Joshua, who is the most decorated epee fencer in the country having won gold at the 2011 Jakarta Sea Games, silver at the 2019 Philippines edition and bronze at the 2017 KL edition, hopes to repay the faith of those who contributed.
‘Half of the funding came via the crowdfunding campaign and the rest through other sponsors. I also have to thank my sister and the Blade Fencing Club for their initiatives,” said Joshua, who has been in Pisa, Italy since last weekend.
‘I’m also grateful to all the fencers and their families from the club, as well as the private companies and organisations and everyone else, who chipped in through the crowdfunding effort.
‘Now I have to make good of this opportunity to try and qualify for the Olympics.’
Joshua is already getting down to business as he looks to get himself up to speed in qualifying for the Olympics.
The fencer will miss this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations with his family and friends as he will be competing at the Qatar Grand Prix in Doha on Jan 24-26.
After that, he will compete in the Montreal World Cup (Feb 7-8), Westend Grand Prix in Budapest (March 6-8) and the Buenos Aires World Cup (March 20-21).
The end goal for Joshua is, however, the Asian Zone qualifiers in Seoul in April.
The Malaysian needs to win it to earn a ticket to Tokyo.