Laura Rasoanaivo, in a white kimono, continues her quest for the Olympic ticket.
The Big Island will field four judokas in the African Senior Championship. The continental joust will be held in Egypt from next Thursday to Saturday.
Reduced delegation. Madagascar will be represented by four fighters at the senior African championships. The continental summit, a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, will be held from April 25 to 27 in Cairo, Egypt. “The Ministry of Youth and Sports granted us three plane tickets,” confides Saïd Eric Bruno, president of the Malagasy Judo Federation. With these tickets, the federation will field two fighters, Laura Aina Rasoanaivo Razafy in the -70kg category and Natacha Emiliame Razafindrakalo in the -48kg category. “We offered the third ticket to the national technical director. He should closely follow the athletes, especially Laura who is in search of Olympic qualification,” clarifies the boss of the discipline.
The federation supports the third fighter, Yacinthe Angelo Rakotonandrasana in the -60kg category. And the fourth, the expatriate Christiane Vital in the -52kg category will take care of her travel. Laura’s participation is inevitable given that she is expected to take part in qualifying circuits on the eve of the Olympics. Sixteen fighters are entered in her category, including the Angolan Maria Niangi, ranked 39th in the world. She is a gold medalist at the Luanda Open on April 6 and was senior African vice-champion last year.
Qualifier
The junior world number 1 and senior world number 41 will try everything to regain the title in order to collect as many points as possible. In addition to the senior and junior African champion titles, the Saint-Michel judoka won the gold medal at the African Games in March and at the Francophonie Games in August 2023.
Nine fighters are entered in Natacha Emiliame’s category. She won the bronze medal at the African Games in March and the bronze at the African Junior Championship in July 2023. She could not do better than seventh place at the Francophonie Games.
Twenty-two judokas are competing in Angelo’s category and thirteen in the -52kg girls, Christiane Vital’s category. The latter finished seventh at the African Championship and fifth at the Algiers Open last year. “In addition to plane tickets, we are in the process of negotiating with the continental body the entry rights of the athletes as well as their accommodation on site,” specifies Saïd Bruno. The delegation left the country yesterday afternoon.
Serge Rasanda
2024-04-23 02:49:07
#JUDO #AFRICA #fighters #competing #Cairo
