Cameroon: Soppi Mbella, female Judoka won the first position in the category of +78kg women at the 45th Africa Judo Championships in Cairo, Egypt.
It is a Major win for the Cameroon as Soppi has managed to receive one silver championship medal, one golden world cup medal, 2 silver and 2 bronze world cup medals.
This year, the 2024 African Judo Championships organised 45th edition of the tournament and was held in Hall-1 of the Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex in Cairo, Egypt.
Judo Championships were held from April 25, 2024 to April 28, 2024 as a part of the IJF World Tour, during the 2024 Summer Olympics qualification period. The day of competition featured a mixed team event.
Reportedly, the 45th African Judo Championships’ refereeing seminar was led by the Supervisor at the federation of International Judo Arbitration Commission – Tina Trstenjak, Chief Director of Arbitration of the African Judo Union – Ababacar Ngom and Director of Arbitrator – Khaled Anwar.
The refereeing seminar was held on April 24, 2024 at the Sonesta Hotel in Cairo prelude to the 45th African Senior Championships.
Moreover, the thirty-nine main players of the competition including referees, coaches and top athletes were benefitted from the seminar, meeting the FIJ standards.
The seminar has mainly focused on the summary of the International Judo Seminar which was held in Gyor – Hungary in January 2024.
Notably, the rules will govern judo refereeing to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The intensity of the matches involved strong emotions on the second day of competition as Egypt secures its first gold medal and with that Algeria and Angola also won the gold.
As per the sources, four categories were engaged on the second day of individual competitions, considering the 63kg and 70kg for girls; and 73kg and 81kg for boys.
Algeria started strong by winning for the two categories in 63kg and 73kg. Angolan Maria Niangi beats Moroccan Assmaa Niang in the final and wins the gold. Whereas, Egypt secures its first gold medal of the competition with Abdelrahman who defeated Moroccan El Meziati after they fiercely contested matches that turned in favor of the Egyptians.