Charity Jatau has won gold medal in the women’s 50kg at the 2024 World Beach Sambo Championships in Casablanca, Morocco.
Sambo is an offshoot of judo, jujutsu, boxing, and folk wrestling and is currently recognised by the International Olympic Committee although it is yet to be listed for demonstration at the Olympics.
It was Nigeria’s maiden appearance at the competition and Charity Jatau was the country’s sole representative.
The African Games champion was unbeatean in her weight category as she defeated her counterparts from Morocco, Kazakhstan and Romania to capture the gold medal.
“I am so happy to be part of the tournament and I must thank the Sambo Association of Nigeria (SAN) led by its president Loveth Howells and its vice president, Sheriff Hammed for making it possible for me to be here because it was as if I would not be here. But they made frantic efforts through their personal support to ensure that Nigeria is represented in Morocco. It was not easy but with the determination and God’s grace I triumphed and I hope my victory would inspire more athletes to embrace Sambo in Nigeria.”
For the SAN president Howells, attending the tournament has again showed to the world body that Nigeria is ready to embrace the sport as efforts are being made to popularise it more in the country.
The vice president, Hammed, also commended the president for her commitment to the sport while pledging to continue to encourage more people to identify with the sport as efforts are been made by the world body to engage the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to consider Sambo as part of the medal hauling event at the Olympic Games.
