Team Nigeria, consisting of four athletes, won one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in the Sambo event of the 13th African Games in Ghana on Tuesday.
Out of the thirty sports scheduled for the Games, Sambo is one of the seven demonstration sports. Nigeria’s competitors in this sport were Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Algeria, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Niger Republic, Togo, and the host nation, Ghana.
It was James Chegwam that first earned a bronze medal for Nigeria in the men’s 58kg while Jonah Kajido narrowly missed out from the podium in the men’s 79kg, after losing to his Moroccan counterpart.
However, Charity Jatau was flawless in all her fights and she claimed the first gold medal for Nigeria after winning her bout against her Egyptian opponent in the women’s 59kg but her compatriot, Fatima Ogbonyomi had to settle for silver in the women’s 65kg.
Vice President of the Sambo Association of Nigeria, Sheriff Hammed, described the performance of the athletes as a pointer to the potential of Nigeria in the sport.
“We came with four athletes, and we are returning with three medals, and this goes to show that there is more potential in the sport if we continue to promote and grow the sport. These medals would motivate us to work harder to grow the sport and we believe this set of athletes will inspire others to embrace the sport. We are excited and we hope Sambo will officially be recognised by the organisers of the African Games in subsequent editions while the International Olympic Committee will consider the sport for future Games,” Hammed said.
