Judo central to mental health for Refugee Olympic Team hopeful

.....The 29-year-old, who was for many years an integral member of the Syrian national women’s judo squad, is referring to the almost nine months she spent in a refugee camp in the Netherlands in 2015. She had managed to escape the civil war devastating her country, but at huge personal cost. Her two-and-a-half-year-old son and husband had to stay in Syria while she looked to secure refugee status......

.....The duo have a lot to aim for. Aldass is one of 50 refugee athletes currently being considered for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 team. It is a prospect almost too alluring for the mother-of-three to contemplate.....

.....“Wow. It’s more than a dream coming true. It’s just a dream now, out there it would be a dream coming true. I won’t believe it until it’s like, ‘Wow, I really made it’,” Aldass said. “My kids are like, ‘Mum, you have to go to the Olympics’. The goal for the whole family is reaching the Olympics. We will see. I am not thinking too far ahead.”.....