Nigeria wins gold at 4th African Judo open in Dakar

Nigeria won gold medal at the fourth African Judo Open which took place in Dakar, Senegal.

In the 63kg women category final held on Saturday, Nigeria’s Enku Ekuta defeated the 2019 African games champion, Helene Dombeu of Cameroon to win gold.

The Akwa Ibom born Ekuta qualified for the final after defeating Carolina Delgado of Cape Verde and Anastasiya-Alexander Nenova of South Africa in the preliminary pool.

The victory is Ekuta’s first continental open gold medal and the second time she will defeat the 33-year old Dombeu at a continental open.

The Nigerian champion won with an ippon after over three minutes of the keenly contested bout, which saw both fighters accumulating two penalties each.

The victory has now added 100 IJF world ranking points to Ekuta’s profile, as she continues to garner points to secure qualification for the 2021 Summer Olympic Games which takes place in Tokyo, Japan.

Accugas, a Savannah Energy Company, which sponsored Ekuta to the competition, congratulated her over the win. 

“We congratulate Enku Ekuta on the remarkable victory in Dakar. She was the only judoka from Nigeria who participated at the 4th African Judo Open,” Nkoyo Etuk, head of stakeholder relations and communication of Savannah Energy, said in a statement.

“Enku’s performance has justified the confidence we have in her talent which inspired the deal to sponsor her training and competition to ensure she qualifies for and participates at the 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. We are optimistic that she will win more continental open to secure enough points to qualify for the Olympics.”