42nd African Senior Judo Championship   |24 May 2021

Nantenaina Finesse loses by ippon in first fight

Seychelles’ sole representative at the 42nd African Senior Judo Championship could not collect a win in the men’s -90kg weight category.

Competing on Saturday at the Dakar Arena in Diamniadio, Dakar, Senegal, and with former judoka and coach Francis Labrosse in his corner, Nantenaina Finesse lost by ippon to Mintsa Diarra Adam Dalex of Gabon in a group C fight.

The fight lasted 1 minutes 43 seconds (1:43) as Dalex ipponed Finesse with 2:17 left on the clock of the four-minute bout.

Gabonese Dalex then lost by ippon with 3:47 left on the clock to South African Thomas-Laszlo Breytenbach who had moved to the following round through a bye.

An ippon is the highest score in judo and once awarded, it means the end of the match in favour of the athlete who scored it. An ippon is equivalent to a knockout in boxing.

As for waza-ari, it is the second highest score (half point) a fighter can achieve in judo. When two half points are awarded in a match, then it is equivalent to ippon and the match comes to an end.

A judoka can also score a yuko.

The gold medal of the -90kg category was won by Algerian Benamadi Abderrahmane who picked up a waza-ari and an ippon against Ghanaian Anani Kwadjo with 3:10 left in the final.

The two bronze medallists are

Mauritian Remi Feuillet and Tunisian Ben Ammaer Abdelaziz are the two bronze medallists.

The 20 judokas in the -90kg weight division were into four groups ‒ A (4 fighters), B (5 fighters), C (6 fighters), and D (5 fighters).

A total of 210 judokas from around 40 African countries took part in the championship with the aim of qualifying for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan from July 23 to August 8. The Games were to take place last year but were postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and there are ongoing calls for the Games to be postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic.

A second judoka, former Sportsman of the Year Dominic Dugasse, could not make the trip to Dakar for health reasons.

Gerard Govinden