By Our Correspondent

Nigeria has won bronze medal at the 41st African Seniors Championships held in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Nigeria’s only representative at the championships, Enku Ekuta, defeated Billet Sandrine of Cape Verde with an ippon to win bronze in the 63kg women on Friday, December 18.

Ekuta, who is sponsored by Accugas, a Savannah Energy Company, qualified for the semifinal after defeating Damiella Nomenjanahary of Madagascar with an ippon. Ekuta lost the semifinal bout to Amina Belkadi of Algeria.

The African Seniors Championships is one of the key judo events on the International Judo Federation (IJF) calendar aimed at enabling eligible judokas to gain points leading to qualification for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.

The bronze medal has now added 350 IJF world ranking points to Ekuta’s points tally, and further enhances her chances of securing enough points to qualify for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.

Nkoyo Etuk, Head of Stakeholder Relations and Communication, Savannah Energy commented:

“We are impressed by Enku Ekuta’s performance in Antananarivo, Madagascar. She carried on her shoulders the additional responsibility of being the only Nigerian judoka again at a major continental championship – and she did Nigeria proud by winning a bronze medal. Accugas will continue to support her to ensure that she participates in more continental championships and gains enough points to qualify for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. We are confident that she will qualify and excel at the Olympics”.

Ekuta said: “I am happy that I participated at the 41st African Seniors Championships and I thank God for winning a bronze medal for Nigeria. I thank my sponsor, Accugas and the Nigeria Judo Federation for their support. Although my target was gold, the bronze medal will nonetheless increase my total points in the race to qualify for the Olympics.  I will work on my mistakes and improve on my performance in the next championship”.

It will be recalled that Ekuta won gold at the 4th African Judo Open which took place on November 14, 2020 in Dakar, Senegal.