Tag: African Sambo Championships

Nigeria is set to make its second appearance at the African Sambo Championships as a two-man team departs for Conakry, Guinea, tomorrow, May 21, to compete in the 19^th  edition of the continental tournament organized by the African Sambo Federation.

This year’s championship is particularly significant for Nigeria, marking the country’s debut in Combat Sambo—a more intense and physically demanding variant of the sport.

Representing the nation are Martin Aziba and Ramon Ibrahim, accompanied by Hammed Sheriff, Vice President of the Nigerian Sambo Association. The team will fly via Asky Airlines through Lomé to Conakry.

Aziba will make history as the first Nigerian athlete to compete in Combat Sambo at the African Championships, contesting in the Men’s 85kg category. Ibrahim will compete in Sport Sambo (Men’s 64kg). Both athletes are also scheduled to participate in Beach Sambo, which will take place at the iconic Stade du 28 Septembre in Conakry.

Ahead of the tournament, Aziba expressed optimism and pride: “We’ve been training hard to perfect our techniques and are fully focused on bringing home gold medals and glory for Nigeria. This is a historic moment for us, and I’m proud to be the first Nigerian in Combat Sambo at this level.”

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Ibrahim echoed his teammate’s confidence: “We’ve been in training for the past three months. We’re ready to give our best and make Nigeria proud.”

For Hammed Sheriff, the focus extends beyond the medals: “This is our first competition of the year, and we’re aiming to build on our past successes. At the last African Championships, we secured three golds, one silver, and one bronze. We’re confident we can match or even surpass that performance.”

He also outlined the association’s long-term strategy. “Our goal is to empower athletes through consistent exposure to international competitions. We don’t want them idle—we want continuous development. Over the past 11 months, we’ve sustained that momentum, and we’re committed to keeping it going.”

As the Nigerian contingent heads to Guinea, hopes are high for a strong showing and another proud chapter in the nation’s growing legacy in Sambo.

With three athletes, Nigeria made its presence count at the 18th African Sambo Championships with five medals to show for their efforts at the three-day championships held at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt.

The athletes who were medallists at the last African Games in Ghana showed class against their counterparts from 21 other African countries with Charity Jatau claiming the only gold medal for Nigeria in the women’s 59kg.

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Jatau, African Games gold medallist was not intimidated by the home crowd in the final against Egypt’s Ragar Alaa as she floored her opponent 5-2 to claim Nigeria’s first gold and medal at the continental championships.

On the same day, Fatima Ogbonyomi worked her way to the final, but she was unlucky to add another gold as she fell to Morocco’s Wissal 3-0 to settle for silver in the women’s 65kg division.

The only male athlete in the team, James Chegwam worked his way to the final from bronze medal in African games after defeating his opponents from Togo and Congo DRC in his first two fights only to lose the gold medal to his Moroccan counterpart and settle for silver in the men’s 58kg.

The duo of Jatau and Chegwam added two bronze medals after settling for bronze in the beach Sambo on Monday, June 3.

Following the impressive outing at the 13th African Games in Ghana, Nigeria has been listed among the teams that will compete at the 18th African Sambo Championships taking place in Cairo, Egypt, from June 1 to 3.

The three-man contingent is made up of the three medalists at the 13th African Games, led by gold medalist Charity Jatau as well as silver medalist Fatima Ogbonyomi, who will compete in the women’s category, while the only male competitor is African Games bronze medalist James Chegwam.

The team will on Wednesday, May 29, depart Nigeria aboard Egypt Air to Cairo for the three-day continental showpiece.

The three-day tournament will take place at Cairo International Stadium; sport sambo, combat sambo, and beach sambo are events that teams will jostle for at the continental tournament.

According to the Vice President of the Sambo Association of Nigeria (SAN), Sheriff Hammed, the performances of the athletes stunned the continental body, which decided to include the team in the list of participating countries heading to Egypt.

“We are excited that sambo is gaining ground in Nigeria, and the performance of the athletes in Ghana has shown that with more support, Nigeria can rival the best sambo nations in Africa.

We have decided to honour the invitation of the continental body to attend for the first time in Egypt, and we hope and believe our athletes will again show their qualities against the rest of Africa, just like they did in Ghana. I must admit that our performance in Ghana has given us hope that the sport has come to stay, and we are working tirelessly to ensure that the sport is popular across the country. We are also hopeful of a good outing in Egypt,” Hammed said.

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Hammed, who is also the Joint Secretary of Africa, International Association of Combative Sports (IACS), said participating in the tournament would give more people the opportunity to appreciate the uniqueness of the sport, which is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.

Aware of the infrastructural challenges facing sports in Nigeria, Hammed harped on the need to effectively utilise the existing combat sports facilities. “Some of the questions we have asked ourselves include this: Do we want to build new facilities for Sambo, or can we work with current sports facilities and work out ways to make the best use of their facilities? While the long-term goal will be to build new facilities, we think that by working with current facilities, we can create a win-win situation for such facilities to improve,” he added.

Among the top athletes expected to light-up the tournament is two-time World Combat Sambo Champion, multiple African Combat Sambo Champion, member of FIAS athletes commission Seidou Nji Mouluh of Cameroon.