Kenya finishes sixth at continental judo event
By Benson Mbare, July 25, 2022
The Kenya Judo national teams settled for the sixth position in the just concluded Africa Cadet Judo championship as Egypt were crowned eventual winners after edging Angola to the title at the Moi Stadium Kasarani indoor arena on Friday.
Angola would settle for silver as South Africa and Cameroon both bagged the bronze after beating Burundi and Kenya respectively.
On their way to victory, the Egyptians collected 12 medals in the singles contest; nine gold, one silver and two bronze to top the standings and are followed by Angola with three gold, two silver and two bronze.
Kenya who finished sixth managed to collect two silver and three bronze medals.
David Baya settled for a silver medal after falling to Egyptian Ramadan M in the 55 kg individual final.
Abdulrahman Gobwe clinched bronze in the 50 kg category with Martha Dama achieving a similar feat in the 52kg category.
Despite not having secured any victory, this year’s championships will go down as Kenya’s best-ever performance with sevens medals from the combined cadet and junior events.
Kenya won four medals from the previous 2019 event in Burundi; a silver and three bronze.
Meanwhile, the Africa Junior Championships kicked off on Saturday with 112 judokas from 16 countries expected to compete against each other.
The event features judokas aged between 18-20 while Cadet features boys and girls aged between 14 and 16.
The two championships will act as a build-up to the Africa Youth Olympics in Conakry Senegal with the Junior African Cup set for September this year in Guinea.