A Far North local will don green and gold on the world stage in August, after being selected to compete at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
32-year-old Sebastian Temesi, who trains with Cairns Judo Club, will enter the Men’s 90kg division.
The 10-time Australian National Judo Champion and triple Oceania Champion will be the only Queenslander in the 12-strong side.
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Judo has only been included in three previous Commonwealth Games: Auckland 1990, Manchester 2002 and Glasgow 2014.
This year’s national team includes ten debutants to the Games alongside Katharina Haecker and Jake Bensted – the only two Australian judokas in history to compete at two Commonwealth Games.
Mr Temesi told Tropic Now he’s “not nervous at all” to compete, but instead ready to go.
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“Hopefully it’s as shiny as possible.”
The Games, which run from 28 July to 8 August in the United Kingdom’s second-largest city, will also mark Mr Temesi’s first international competition post-COVID.
In the meantime, he’s also had success in MMA fighting rings.
“I started playing contact sports pretty much as soon as I could walk,” he said.
“It started with karate before I stepped on judo mat at six-years-old.
“I haven’t stopped since.”
Luke Magnanni from Innisfail Judo Club is also currently in Europe to participate in the Cadet European Cup and training camps in Poland and Portugal.
