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Kenya: Heartbreak for Kenyan Judokas in Dakar Open

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4 years ago

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Kenya still harbours hope of clinching a medal at the Dakar African Judo Open following a difficult first day in the two-day tournament.

Five of the eight judokas, who took to the mat at the Marius Ndiaye Stadium in Senegal’s capital, suffered elimination at the preliminary round.

Evance Omondi and Shagilah Ramadhan came close to qualifying for the bronze medal contests in their respective categories but lost to Ivorian and Senegalese opponents in the determining ties.

Tabitha Mailu was Kenya’s best hope for a medal after entering the women’s -57kg category at the semifinals stage. The category had only four contestants but, the 24-year old left out empty-handed after defeats to host nation’s Ndeye Oumy Kamara in her semifinal contest and to Moroccan Lamia Eddinari in the bronze medal contest.

The Open’s first day saw the eight Kenyan judokas contesting in three men’s categories (-60kg, -66kg, and -73kg) and two women’s categories (-57kg and -63kg).

Evance Omondi, 22, was Kenya’s best performer of the day after he redeemed himself in his first repechage contest for the -60kg category. Omondi suffered elimination from the main round at the hands of Senegal’s Moussa Diop in the only Pool A tie for the men’s -60kg category.

Omondi registered the day’s only win for Kenya by defeating Ivorian Evrard Rgis Monney.

However, defeat to Monney’s compatriot, Daouda Dabone, in his second repechage contest quashed his hopes of competing for a bronze medal.

Judo Kenya Deputy President Duncan Chemiryo credited Omondi’s positive display to his early introduction to the sport.

“Omondi started judo in Class Six,” Chemiryo told Nation Sport.

“His performances emphasise the need for Kenya to strive to introduce judokas to the sport early. If we can achieve that, we will have more judokas doing well in preliminary matches at tournaments and challenging for medals,” he added.

Defeat to Senegal’s Kadessa Tounkara in one of the two repechage ties saw Shagilah Ramadhan miss out on appearing in the bronze medal contest in the women’s -63kg category.

Martinique Fofana of Burkina Faso had relegated Shagilah to the repechage after she triumphed over the 33-year-old in the only Pool D contest for their category.

Omondi’s compatriot in the -60kg category, Kelvin Nderitu, had his stay in the Open cut short following a defeat to South Africa’s Khanya Thamae in a Pool C meeting.

In the men’s -66kg category, Carlos Atieno’s stay in the tournament ended following a defeat to Callum Nash of the Republic of Ireland in an opening Pool A contest.

Kelvin Nderitu’s cousin, John Nderitu, also suffered the same fate as Atieno in the men’s -66kg category. He lost to Jason Patrick Zacko Ngawili of the Central African Republic in a preliminary Pool D contest.

The elimination of Abad Ouhsumer and Christopher Koga in the men’s -73kg category compounded Kenya’s difficult first day at the Open. Ouhsumer and Koga lost to contestants from the host nation in their Pool B and Pool C contests. Gorgui Sarr eliminated Ouhsumer as Koga fell to Cheikhou Senghor.

With 15 contestants, Kenya is the second most represented country at the Open. Hosts Senegal have 27 judokas in the tournament.

Kenya’s remaining seven contestants will fight for honours on Sunday in three men’s categories (-81kg, -100kg, and +100kg) and three women’s categories (-70kg, -78kg, and +78kg).

Chemiryo remained optimistic Kenya will perform well in Day Two contests and, he singled out Peterson Mbugua as a good medal prospect.

“There will be fewer elimination contests tomorrow and, it is our hope that will motivate our judokas to give their best,” Chemiryo said.

“We expect Peterson (Mbugua) to perform well. Like Omondi, he started judo at an early age and, his experience has been growing,” he added.

Mbugua will hope to overcome Senegal’s Abdoulaye Dieng Mboup in the men’s -81kg category. Victory will see him meet Calvin Marais. The South African received a bye to the contest that decides the Pool C winner for that category.

Triumph over Marais will see Mbugua qualify for the semifinals to fight for a slot in the gold medal contest. Defeat in the semifinal will relegate Mbugua to the repechage, where he will try to redeem himself by securing a place in the bronze medal contest.

Defeat against Marais will send Mbugua to the repechage, where he will face off with another losing judoka from the pool stage. Victory in that contest will pit him against a losing semifinalist to fight for a slot in the bronze medal tie.

In the men’s -100kg category, Robinson Oirere will have to emerge the best in round-robin contests against Koffi Kreme Kobena (Ivory Coast) and Djiby Ba (Senegal) for a chance to fight for gold.

If successful, Oirere may set up an all-Kenyan final with Team Kenya captain Joseph Irungu if the latter defeats Modou Fall of Senegal in the other elimination contest for that category.

The two can still face each other in the bronze medal should Irungu lose to Fall and Oirere finishes second in his round-robin contests.

The men’s +100kg category will have no round-robin contests as Kenya’s only contestant, Kalvin Afude, has earned a bye to the semifinals together with Mbagnick Ndiaye of Senegal.