Sunbury housemates Ivo Dos Santos and Stevie Kelly are among Australia’s medal chances at the Commonwealth Games, starting next week in Glasgow.
Both are competing in the Games for the first time and they’re entering their events, judo and wrestling, respectively, full of confidence.
Dos Santos is seeded second in the 66-kilogram category behind England’s Colin Oates, who is ranked fifth in the world.
It’s the first time judo has been contested at the Games since 2002.
“I lost to him in the first round at the
[2012] Olympics by the smallest of margins so I should be a medal chance,” Dos Santos said.
“For the Commonwealth Games, you have to be the best in Australia and compete in every competition in Australia.”
Kelly, who made the transition from wrestling to judo, has won Australian and Oceania wrestling titles since taking up the sport.
According to her housemate, Kelly is “a realistic medal chance” as the depth in the women’s wrestling competition is not as deep as it is for the men.
“The second-ranked person in the world is from New Zealand and Stevie beat her in the Oceania championships,” he said.
Dos Santos won’t be the only local judo competitor at the Games, with Broadmeadows’ Hannah Trotter also among the medal chances.
Trotter, 22, who will compete in the 52-kilogram division, and Dos Santos are two of seven athletes from Resilience Training Centre in Footscray who are travelling to Glasgow.
They are coached by former Olympian Daniel Kelly.
“I think it works well with all of us training together … everyone is working towards the same goal,” Kelly said.
“The younger ones are pushing the more experienced ones … I think that really helps.”
Three-time Olympian Ali Abdo, who works in Sunbury, is making his Commonwealth Games debut in wrestling.
“I’ve been around for a fair bit and this could be my final run,” he said.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself – I want to finish on a high.
“For me, ideally I want nothing less than a podium finish.”
Lalor Bowling Club’s Carla Odgers will also make her Commonwealth Games debut.
Odgers, 24, made her debut for Australia in 2012 when she was playing for Sunbury. She has represented her country 39 times and her highest achievement to date is winning the 2013 Hong Kong international pairs event.
