Sekamana starts medal hunt

Judo star Fred Yannick Sekamana Uwase starts quest for a medal this morning when he faces Brazilain Bruno Mendonca in the elimination round of 32 in the on-going London Olympic Games.The action begins with the men’s -73kg and Sekamana will be hoping to edge the 27-year old Mendonca who is making his Olympic debut in bid to reach the elimination round of 16.This is Sekamana’s second high profile tournament that he will be facing elite athletes. In April, this year he failed to go past the first round of the 3rd Africa Judo Championship held in Agadia, Morroco.The 18-year old suffered a first round exit after losing to Chad’s Mazou Abaker Mbairo 2:23 in 73-kg category fight.Other Africans vying for a medal in this category include Emmanuel Nartey from Ghana and Hussein Hafiz from Egypt.The Lightweight class has serious standouts such as Wang Ki-Chun of South Korea, who won the silver four years ago in Beijing, and Japan’s Riki Nakaya.In this sport, athletes are competing in the weight categories and are divided into two groups within these categories. Competition is on a knockout system that eventually determines the two finalists who compete in the gold medal match. In each event, the four defeated quarter-finalists compete in two repechage contests. The winners then compete against the two defeated semi-finalists to determine the winners of the two bronze medals. In the event of a tie, the contest enters a golden score period of three minutes, when the first score wins.Russian Arsen Galstyan produced an upset to win gold in the men’s -60kg competition on the opening day of Judo action. He defeated double world champion Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan on golden score in their semi-final, before overcoming Japanese fighter Hiroaki Hiraoka in the final with a superb ippon throw after just 40 seconds to win his first gold.

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Sekamana starts medal hunt