Mboa Sport emerges champions in Sambo Cup of Cameroon.

The Mfandena Gynasium in Yaounde played host to the Sambo Cup of Cameroon finals on Saturday August 3, 2024. A total of 107 Sambists drawn from 10 clubs across the country competed in Combat Sambo and Sambo Sport.

They were 87 men and 20 women Sambists lined in the 23 categories. In all 54 medals were handed out, including 19 gold, 19 silver and 16 bronze

FAP Sambo were ranked second with eights medals, among which are 3 gold, 3 silver and 2 gold while AMASIA occupied the third position with 3 gold, 2 silver and one bronze.  All 10 clubs that participated won at least a medal.

Speaking to reporters after the various finals, Ndjima Raoul of Buea Sambo Club who won gold in the -98kg category said he was happy with performance, adding that the crown gives him an extra motivation.

“I was expecting to the fight to go like for five minutes and then I win by points but the final went faster than I thought, so I’m very happy with my performance. My opponent wanted to be aggressive and it was advantageous for me because I’m more technical than him; he could be very physical but I’m more technical and swifter,” Ndjima said

Enter FECASAMBO boss

On his part, the President of the Cameroon Sambo Federation, FECASAMBO, Francois Mbasi saluted the quality of the fights. 

He underlined that they have continuously been working to popularise the sport and more Cameroonians are beginning to take interest in Sambo, judging from the heavy mobilisation witnessed during the finals.

“Our motive is to do better than before and better than it’s done elsewhere. We have adopted an approach which is that of continuous amelioration and the results you see today show that work is being done at the national level by the technical directorate,” Mbassi said.

He presented Sambo as a sport that “has that particularity of personal development on the mental, physical and psychology of athletes...and pushes them to work to be able to get this high level that you observed today,”

“We want to make Sambo become second discipline in Cameroon after football,” the FECASAMBO boss stated.

He went on to add that: “By the time we’re concluding the Cup of Cameroon, we’re at 60% realisation of our annual activities for 2024 because in front of us, we still have the vulgarisation activities which we’ll continue on the field”.

Focus on int’l competitions

Mbassi told reporters that the focus of the federation is now on the international scene, with upcoming events in September and November.

“We have competitions of high standing like World Beach Sambo Championship in Casablanca next 15-17 September, where we’ll compete for medals to be African and World Champions,” the Sambo federation president disclosed.

He said after that they will return home for the Open CEAC Tournament, for Sambists from countries of the Central African subregion to take place in Yaounde. 

“We’re expecting at least 15 countries. Athletes will be coming to compete for points to better their ranking globally on the classification of the International Sambo Federation. We’ll be closing our year with the World Sambo Championship in Kazakhstan in November,” Mbassi concluded.

The representative of the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Byem Assandje Theodore, saluted the quality of fights he watched and said the sports ministry will continue to accompany FECASAMBO and other sports federations in the country.

This story was first Published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3192 of Wednesday August 07, 2024