Judo One silver, one bronze medal so far |28 August 2023
AMANDAH PAYET … Silver medallist in +78 kg category (Photo: Patrick Joubert)
Judokas Amandah Payet and Dominic Dugasse won a silver and a bronze medal respectively in the 11th Indian Ocean Islands Games yesterday at the Ankoay gymnasium in Tahamasina, Tananarivo, Madagascar.
On the second day of the individual judo competition Payet, competing in her first Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG), claimed the silver medal after losing by ippon to Mayla Bertschy from Reunion, very early in the final.
Qualifying straight for the quarterfinal in the women’s +78 kg category, 30-year-old Payet with 14 years of experience in the sport, won her first fight by ippon over Kaabi Wardati from the Comoros and went on to defeat Miora Arontsoa Rasonaivo of Madagascar also by ippon in the semifinal.
“My aim was to win the gold medal but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Had the final been held a bit earlier, I guess I would have won. I gree tired because of the long wait for the final. But all the same, I am very happy to have won at least the silver medal on my first participation in the games. I feel very proud of myself,” said Payet who noted that her fights were not as tough as she had imagined.
The bronze medals in that category went to Haingoniana Ramiandrisoa Ramilovonjy of Madagascar and Marie Durhonne from Mauritius.
To win the men’s +100kg category bronze medal, Dugasse started his series of four fights with a defeat through ippon in round 16 by Matthieu Dafreville from Reunion who went on to win the gold medal by defeating Makayilly Emaac from Mayotte in the final.
In the repêchage round, Dugasse won both his fights against Mahatoky Rabemianana from Madagascar (waza ari) and Al-Imrane Ali from the Comoros (ippon) to earn the right to fight for the bronze medal which he won on the golden score rule after a tie at the end of the official four minutes.
“The two days’ competition were very tough. Fights between opponents in the Indian Ocean are not easy nowadays, it is very tough and I had to fight two Malagasies, a country which is very strong in judo. It shows how tough it has been for me to get that medal. If we want to win medals in the next games, which I suppose will be held on our soil, we will have to prepare ourselves at the earliest. This is for all sports in country.” said Dugasse.
In yesterday’s competition, Alexander Quilindo who went straight into the semifinal of the men’s -100kg category, lost by ippon to Ricky Fandresena from Madagascar and again finished on the losing end with an ippon against another Malagasy, Marco Tolinantenaina in the bronze medal fight.
A total of eight female and nine male judokas were in action yesterday where most of their fights ended through ippons. The competition continues today at the same venue with team competition.
“Today the performance was much better than yesterday. Although the competition is difficult I think the team will do a much better performance tomorrow (Monday),” said coach Naddy Jeanne.
Patrick Joubert
