Judo-Four local judokas at African senior championship |28 March 2012

Organised by the Royal Moroccan Federation of Judo, the championship is billed for April 2-8 and will serve as qualifiers for the forthcoming Olympic Games to be held in London, England from July 27 to August 12.

The four fighters chosen for the championship are Francis Labrosse (-66kg, half light-weight), Naddy Jeanne (-73kg, light-weight), Leslie Philoé (-81kg, half middle-weight) and Dominique Dugasse (-100kg, half heavy-weight).

There are accompanied by Romanian coach Christian Velici who is here for a six-month spell under the International Judo Federation (IJF) support programme for small countries wishing to take part in the Olympic Games.

Days after arriving here in February, coach Velici set himself a target of qualifying at least one local judoka for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Dugasse, who won a gold medal at the international judo championship in Reunion earlier this month, will be the first Seychellois in action on Wednesday April 4 in the -100kg category. The following day, Thursday April 5, Labrosse, Jeanne and Philoé will pit their skills against judokas in their respective categories.

Some 25 countries across the African continent will be sending female and male judokas to the championship. The draw will take place on Tuesday April 3 under the control and auspices of the African Judo Union’s sports commission.

Each fight will last five minutes and there will be random doping controls on the gold, silver and bronze medallists.

This is the third time the Morocco city of Agadir will host the championship after 2008 and 2010. The championship was originally scheduled to take place in Bamako, Mali, but the African Judo Union chose to give it to Agadir which has more experience in organising such events.

G. G.