2nd August, 2011
There are strong indications that four judokas that participated in the just concluded National Sports Festival in Rivers State will make Team Nigeria to the All Africa Games in Maputo Zimbabwe in September.
P.M Sports gathered from reliable source that 14 judokas made it to the camp and four of them are likely to make Team Nigeria due to their impressive performance in the camp.
The source who craved annonymity said other things being equal the four judokas would not only make the Team Nigeria but also do the country proud at the All Africa Games .
There are eight female and six male judokas in the camp.
The female judokas include Bukola Adeyanju in -52kg class from Lagos State, Victoria Agbodobiri also -52kg from Edo State, Rita Ebere from Kano in the -78kg class, Darlington Aluede +78kg and Josephine Emmanuel -78kg both from Rivers State.
Their male counterparts are Abduljabar Abdulkarim -66kg from Kano, Adekunle Omolola -81kg, Balogun Gideon -90kg both from Lagos State and Adamu Ogah -81kg from Rivers State
An international judoka based in Spain, Chukwuemeka Onye Nyemaechi, who also came for the Kaduna trials dislodged all comers to win in the +100kg to confirm his inclusion into the Team Nigeria.
Meanwhile, for the first time in recent memory, a Nigerian, Professor Alexander Olakintan De-Souza, an International Judo Federation-Grade A licensed referee, has been rated amongst the first 10 Judo referees in the world and was nominated among the 28 international referees that would officiate at the World Judo Championship, which will hold later in the year.
—Bamidele Olowosagba