Dakar, Apr 11 (APS) – Senegal wants to move towards “more technical and powerful” judo, with a view to “repositioning” itself on the “world stage”, the president of the Senegalese Federation of the discipline, Babacar Ngom who praised the “positive assessment” of the national women’s and men’s teams during their last participation in international competitions, in March and April.
Senegal won at the 2023 editions of the International Open in Tunis (from March 9 to 12), Algiers (from 18 to 19) and Luanda (Angola, April 8-9), 20 medals including six gold , in months from one less.
Mr. Ngom, who was speaking in a telephone interview with APS, estimated that the objective of the federation is to ”replace Senegalese judo on the world stage and move towards technical and powerful judo”. ”And that is our success. Wanting to be good in West Africa and going to win in the North where judo is strong,” he added.
”In North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia), we had a good turnout. We finished fifth in Algiers and third in Tunisia. The national team has worked well,” he continued, noting that the Lions are in ”a good average, because the Open tournaments are qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The more medals we win, the closer we get to this competition.
”It’s a good calibration. And this will enable us to achieve our objectives. There are the world championships coming up, we are not going to make up the numbers. We also have our sights set on the African Championship in Morocco, this year where the level will be very high,” he said.
A positive participation in the Open of Algiers, Tunis and Luanda
Senegal made a good participation last weekend in the 1st edition of the Luanda International Judo Open (April 8-9). The Lions won 10 senior and junior medals: four gold, three silver and three bronze, several Senegalese media reported.
The gold medals were obtained by Libasse Ndiaye (-100 kg) in junior, Mbagnick Ndiaye (+100 kg) and Abderahmane Diao (-91 kg) and Diodio Sonko (-51 kg) in senior, specified, in his publication , from Tuesday, the daily Stades.
The national team of Senegal finished second, behind the host country, Angola which flew above the competition. The Angolans won 29 medals: five gold, five silver and 19 bronze.
The Lions performed better than at the Algiers International Open in mid-March (March 18-19). They had won five medals: two silver and three bronze. Rather in Tunis (from March 9 to 12), the Senegalese judokas won five medals at the Tunis Open: two in gold, one in silver and two in bronze.
Senegal’s national women’s and men’s judo team will take part in the world championships in Doha (Qatar) from May 7 to 14. A month after this world competition, the Lions will take part in the Abidjan International Open from June 15 to 18, then in Niger from June 22 to 25.
These competitions will give way to the African Judo Championships scheduled for Morocco from 8 to 11 September.
The Dakar International Open (November 9-12) and the Yaoundé International Open (November 16-19) will be the other tournaments in which Senegal will participate, before the Paris 2024 Olympics.
