Egypt dominate continental junior judo games
By Benson Mbare, July 26, 2022
Egypt were again dominant as the African Judo championships came to an end at the Kasarani indoor arena on Sunday.
Kenya’s judo national team came in fifth overall with three silver medals and two bronze in their name as the Africa Judo Junior Championships concluded at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
In the ladies category, Mary Njeri lost to Burundian Afna Shehata in the bronze medal contest in women’s Under-70 kg.
However, in the boy’s category, Dennis Mwangi and Lewis Atieno from Kajiado and Malindi respectively launched worth competitions before going down to their strong rivals in their respective finals.
Mwangi, 20, lost to Hady Hussein from Egypt in the men’s under-100 kg final.
On his way to the podium finish, Mwangi had knocked out Amir Yaogo from Burundi in the semi-finals while Hussein bundled out South African Righardt van Rensburg.
In the other fixture, Lewis Atieno lost to Yacine Djiba from Senegal in the women’s Under-78 kg final to settle for silver.
Egypt had previously posted impressive results in the just concluded Africa Junior Cadet Championships that ended on Friday and were staged in the same venue.
They managed to collect 12 medals: nine gold, one silver and two bronze on their way to winning the overall title. A group of 116 judokas from 16 countries graced the two-day Africa Junior Championships.
Kenya is registered for the continental show-pieces alongside South Africa, Egypt, Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Angola, Botswana, Uganda, Algeria, Guinea, Zambia and the Comoros Islands.
The championships will also serve as a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
They will also be used as a curtain raiser to the 2022 Conakry Junior African Cup set for September 25.
Kenya Judo Federation President (KJF) Shadrack Maluki.
“It’s a huge improvement from Kenya and we the only target is to be on top of the world because we have the talent that needs to be nurtured,” Maluki said.
Maluki further said his target is to ensure the young talent participate to their full potential once the global event comes knocking.
“My target is to nurture the talent that we have seen and I want to ensure they participate in the youth Olympics while fit enough to do so and we have the necessary structures to make them ready for the global tournament,” Maluki added.
Maluki is also the chairman of African Judo Union(AJU).
African Judo Union President Sitaney Thierry thanked the sports ministry and relevant stakeholders for making the event a success.
“The words are not there to express my satisfaction with the games held today and also the sports ministry for providing the relevant support needed to ensure it the games were a success,” Thierry said.