Enku Ekuta has won gold medal in the 63kg women category at the fourth African Judo Open final held on 14 November 2020.
Enku Ekuta qualified for the final after defeating Carolina Delgado of Cape Verde and Anastasiya-Alexander Nenova of South Africa in the preliminary pool and then defeated the 2019 African games champion, Helene Dombeu of Cameroon to win gold.
The victory is Ekuta’s first continental open gold medal and the second time she will defeat the 33-year-old Dombeu at a continental open.
The Nigerian champion won with an ippon after over three minutes of the keenly contested bout, which saw both fighters accumulating two penalties each.
The victory has now added 100 IJF world ranking points to Ekuta’s profile, as she continues to garner points to secure qualification for the 2021 Summer Olympic Games, which takes place in Tokyo, Japan.
Accugas, a Savannah Energy Company, sponsored Ekuta to the competition.
Nkoyo Etuk, head of stakeholder relations and communication of Savannah Energy stated:
“We congratulate Enku Ekuta on the remarkable victory in Dakar. She was the only judoka from Nigeria who participated at the 4th African Judo Open,” , said in a statement.
Enku’s performance has justified the confidence we have in her talent which inspired the deal to sponsor her training and competition to ensure she qualifies for and participates at the 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. We are optimistic that she will win more continental open to secure enough points to qualify for the Olympics.”
“I feel excited winning my first continental gold. I want to thank God for this victory. I also thank my sponsor, Accugas for ensuring that I had all the support I needed to participate in the competition. The Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF) has also been supportive. My performance in Dakar will motivate me to work harder in upcoming competitions.”
Ahead of the African Judo Open in Senegal, Ekuta won a bronze medal at the 2020 Yaoundé Senior African Open Judo Championship held at the indoor hall of Yaoundé Versatile Sports Complex from Saturday, November 7 to Sunday, November 8, 2020.
