Judo - National Championship: the heavyweights deliver

Hall 1 of the Palais des Sports in Treichville, Abidjan, hosted the senior individual national judo championship on Sunday 14 May 2023. The favourites delivered. Kobenan Koffi Krémé, Côte d’Ivoire's -100kg champion, retained his title for the 3rd time in a row, winning the final against Koné Ibrahim of INJS by ippon.

In the +100 kg category, Wilfried Polneau won a 2nd consecutive title. He beat Zahomo Lezano of SOA in the final, also by ippon. In the -60 kg, Dabonné Daouda made the podium for the 3rd time in a row. In the final, he got the better of Diarrassouba Karim. In the +73 kg, Zouzoua Yannick added another Côte d’Ivoire title, beating Serogo Abdalah of SOA in the final. In the women's events, Fofana Salimata retained her -52 kg title.

In the overall standings, SOA topped the table with 8 medals, 5 of them gold. CESCA finished 2nd with 9 medals, 4 of them gold. JC INJS completed the top three with 4 medals, one of them gold. More than 150 judokas, men and women, took part in the competition. After the cadet, junior and senior championships, the Super Cup was awarded to CESCA.

"Our feelings are mixed at the end of these various Côte d’Ivoire championships. They allowed us to test our organisational capacity ahead of the Abidjan International Open, combined with the African Cadet and Junior Championships, from 15 to 18 June. On that front, we are ready. But on the other hand, we are less satisfied with the level shown by our athletes. So we will need to sit down and analyse the bouts to be performing well in 4 weeks," explained the president of the Ivorian Judo Federation, Dabonné Seydou.

Kader G