By GRACE CHAILE –
IPPON community club amassed 49 points to emerge winner of the 10th Japanese Ambassador’s Judo tournament held over the weekend at Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in Lusaka.
Second position was shared by Green Buffaloes and Zambia Police after tying on 39 points with third place going to Central Sports Club who got 17 points while Zambia National Services (ZNS) was fourth with 14 points.
Mathews Punza of Zambia Police scooped the best man of the mat while the best female of the mat went to Idah Rulken, a judo volunteer from Norway.
The final matches saw Gift Mwansa of Buffaloes beat Francis Mulenga in the 27kg category as Humphery Nyirenda of Central Sports beat Jack Mulunda of Ippon in the 73kg event.
Taonga Soko of Buffaloes beat Beatrice Mwansa of Ippon to win the 52kg women’s title while Punza beat Humphrey Bweupe of ZNS to lift the 66kg men’s title.
Meanwhile, Japanese Ambassador Kiyoshi Koinuma said he was impressed with the judokas performance and was hopeful that Zambia will reap medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“The basic underlying philosophy of Judo is ‘mutual prosperity between oneself and others’. It is significant to the development of Zambia that the two countries build up a spirit of mutual prosperity through judo training, because it will lead to establishing a society of mutual support,” he said.
Sports Permanent secretary Agness Musunga, in a speech read on her by Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) board member Matildah Mwaba, commended Japan for the excellent support rendered to judo.
Musunga expressed hope that Zambians will use the spirit of judo which centres on respect and mutual understanding to the development of the nation.
Zambia Judo Association (ZJA) president Alfred Foloko thanked the corporate world for the support rendered to the sport.
ZJA honoured SCZ board member Haroon Ghumra, ZJA vice president Father Jude McKenna, former ZJA president Mwaba and Shapa Wakung’uma with medals for their contribution to the growth of judo.