Kenya Judo team won bronze at the Senior Africa Championships that came to an end on Saturday in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
This was the first medal for Kenya at the international level where 16 judokas fought for the bronze after tying with the home team in third place as Algeria claimed gold with Senegal going for silver in the championships that doubled up as the Tokyo Olympic Games qualifiers.
Joseph Mwangi in Under 100kgs and Alice Chebet in over 78kgs reached the semifinals with three others John Kairabi (Under 66kgs), Carlos Ochieng (Under 60kgs) and Diana Kana (Under 70kgs) reaching the bronze finals.
At least 10 players went to the second stage of their respective weight categories including Hannah Wanjiku and George Kimani.
Each player has accumulated points with those reaching semifinals having earned 216 points towards the Olympic qualifying.
Kenya hopes to send judokas for the next Olympic qualifying event in Doha on January 13-14 followed by Poland on February 26-28.
Kenya Judo Federation president Shadrack Maluki noted that it was tough for his players considering that the sport was considered high risk as the world battled the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We didn’t get good time to train but the two weeks we were allowed to train the national team under strict conditions helped get the above results,” said Maluki adding that given more time and facilitation to compensate lost time during this Covid-19 period, they can post better results in the subsequent qualifiers.
Maluki appreciated the support they received from the Ministry of Sports to have the team attend the event in Madagascar.
“They did what they could during these hard times to ensure we participated but also got closer to qualifying. It’s this moment that we have to appreciate the government,” said Maluki
Source: Daily Nation