France-based judo star Fred Yannick Sekamana Uwase failed to go past the first round of the 3rd Africa Judo Championship which climaxed yesterday in Agadia, Morroco.The 17-year old Sekamana, who was bidding to snatch a point to enable him compete at London Olympic Games, suffered a first round exit after losing to Chad’s Mazou Abaker Mbairo 2:23 in 73-kg category fight.Rwanda Judo association chairman Christian Bisika says that despite the loss, “At 17, Yannick had a good fight for a junior, who had his first competition in such a senior competition.”He added, “Experience is key to being successful and he lacks it, but with such performances, he will surprise many in future competitions.” Sekamana, who trains at Saint Genevieve Sports judo club in Paris, is among top five athletes in France. This year, he has won the junior France Championship title.Meanwhile, Algerian judokas snatched six medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze) in the Championship. The gold medal went to Sonia Asselah (78 kg) while the silver medal was won by Ilyes Bouyakoub (-100kg).The bronze medals went to Amina Temmar (-78 kg) and Aicha Benabderrahmane (-70 kg) in women’s events and to Ammar Benikhlef (-90 kg) and Tayeb Mohamed Amine (100 kg) in men’s.Africa championship is the final step in the schedule of next Olympics qualifiers (July 27 to August 12).The International Judo Federation expects that over 100 countries would compete in London Olympic Games, the organising committee said.
