It must be said that things were tight between the two judo nations of Algeria and Egypt and if we look more closely, we realise that it is only the number of fifth places that marked a difference between them, Egypt placing two more athletes than Algeria at the foot of the podium. When we tell you that sometimes it doesn't take much to change a result, we mean it.
Behind the two leaders, Morocco and Tunisia also fought a fierce battle, the first taking third place with one silver medal and one bronze medal more than the second.
Vlad Marinescu, IJF Director General, said, "The African Championships brought together a wide array of fantastic judo combined with the participation of very passionate judoka on the way to the Olympics Games. Congratulations to the Egyptian Judo Federation. It’s president and his team, the government who organised this great event, as well as the African Judo Union president and the board members of the organisation, contributed to the stellar event that brought together almost 200 athletes from 34 countries."
It is certain that this championship had particular importance. The approach of the Paris Olympic Games is indeed on everyone's minds. The points distributed in Egypt will have a significant impact on the list of qualifiers, that's for sure. Among the judoka who will leave Cairo with some guarantees to be in Paris this summer, we can note the performances of Younes Saddiki (MAR, -60kg), Kais Moudetere (ALG, -66kg), Messaoud Redouane Dris (ALG, -73kg), Abdelrahman Mohamed (EGY, -81kg), Ali Hazen (EGY, -90kg), Koussay Ben Ghares (TUN, -100kg) and Mohamed Aborakia (EGY, +100kg), who also offered the lead of the rankings to his delegation.
For women, Oumaima Bedioui (TUN, -48kg), Soumiya Iraoui (MAR, -52kg), Mariana Esteves (GUI, -57kg), Amina Belkadi (ALG, -63kg), Maria Niangi (AJU, -70kg), Marie Branser (GUI, -78kg) and Richelle Anita Soppi Mbella (CMR, +78kg), are the new African champions of this very fine 2024 vintage.
It should also be noted that 17 countries reached the podium, demonstrating the dynamism of African judo, while 27 of them put themselves in a position to win a medal, thus representing almost 75% of the countries on the continent.
Among the notable facts, we can point out the beautiful bronze medal of Simon Zulu (ZAM) for example, at -60 kg, which is proof that the development work undertaken in Zambia in recent years is bearing fruit. We can also highlight the great performance of Zouleiha Abzetta Dabonne (CIV, bronze) at -57kg or that of Assmaa Niang (MAR, Silver) at -70kg, who demonstrated that experience plays an important role in judo, while the young generation is pushing hard. These two athletes have actually been present on the international circuit for many years.
There are now only a few events left at which to get the precious points for Paris 2024. For the time being let's celebrate judo and especially African Judo. The show was fantastic and the future looks bright for our sport.