Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports

		10 - 16 October 2002 Issue No. 607 Sports	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Over the mat
Egypt snatched second place at the African Judo championship that ended Monday at the Police Sports Federation. Inas Mazhar reports

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Egypt displayed talent, but Tunisia definitely stole the show
In front of a high spectator turn-out at the Police Sports federation, the Tunisians dominated the mat to snatch first place of the 24th edition of the African Judo championships from former champions Algeria, who came in third place behind the hosts Egypt.
With an overall 15 medals, the Tunisians who penetrated the international judo mat, collected five gold medals, six silvers and four bronzes in both the male and female events.
The hosts, Egypt, came behind in second place with an overall 11 medals; five gold, two silvers and four bronzes. The Algerians who have dominated the African championship titles since 1996 failed to maintain their winning streak and came in the third place with an overall 11 medals; four gold, three silver and four bronze medals. Cote D'Ivoire and Senegal came in the fourth and fifth places respectively.
The results were not quite cut and dry, for Egypt did in fact have the chance to overpower Tunisia and snatch first place, but fell slightly short: the Egyptian champion of Africa and Egypt, Basel El-Gharabawi, did not manage to win his expected gold medal in the open-weight category. The match was the decisive game and brought about much spectator anticipation and enthusiasm. The tension was high; if Egypt won, it would lead the standings table, and if Tunisia took the match it would level the score with Egypt's golds.
The game was tough for El-Gharabawi, who was fighting against world number five, Tunisian Anis Chedly. His opponent was more experienced. Seconds into the game, Chedly pushed El-Gharabawi and cut his suit. Playing stopped for some minutes until the Egyptian changed his suit. Surprisingly, the organisers failed to find another suitable outfit for El-Gharabawi, and he was forced to continue the game in an outfit bearing the Cameroon flag. Those minutes certainly affected El-Gharabawi's concentration. The Tunisian grabbed the chance and scored an Ibon (a whole point) to end the game and win the match and the African title for his country. Surprisingly, Chedly was beaten on the opening day of the competition by a promising 20-year-old Egyptian, Islam El- Shehabi, who also beat him with an Ibon in the over-100kg weight category. Chedly was so angry at the loss, he refused to step onto the podium to collect his silver medal. His coach, however, had other plans, and forced him to display the spirit of a sportsman.
Egypt's African champion Heba Rashid maintained her winning streak at the African championships as she clinched two gold medals in the heavy weight and the Open weight categories. Rashid, who is the heaviest athlete in the women's competition (more than 150 kg), had an easy ride to the defence of her titles. She beat her two opponents with an Ibon. The 31-year-old Rashid said that she has not yet made up her mind about retirement. She said she may postpone it until after the Olympic Games.
Like their male counterparts, the Tunisian women dominated most of the other women disciplines and posed a threat to most of the African participants. The Tunisian women did a great job last month in the world juniors championship under-21 in Korea, when they came in the overall second place behind Japan.
The event was a true display of dominance, on the Tunisian side, and hard work from the Egyptian hosts.

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