African wrestling championships: Cameroon registers underwhelming showing in Cairo.

The contingent won two silver medals in the senior category and harvested a gold medal in the under17 series in what has been described as a hugely disappointing showing owing to the target that was set for the team for the event.

Before the departure of the Cameroonian delegation to Alexandria for the event, the President of the Cameroon Wrestling Federation, Isaac Mpia, said the contingent of head coach Gervais Ntcham, was heading to the North African country with hopes of securing at least four to six medals. Amongst them a series of gold medals.

Tambi Nforsong misses out on maiden gold medal

Tambi Roland Nforsong bagged the group’s lone medal in the men’s category. The 32-year-old won a silver medal in the 57kg freestyle series after losing his bout in the final to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Rodriguez Sibomana.

The silver medal distinction in the 2026 tournament entered the books as a direct improvement compared to the bronze medal that the Cameroonian secured in the same category in last year’s edition of the competition in Morocco.

But the Cameroonian who has now won four medals in the continental showpiece failed in his larger bid to secure his first ever gold medal in the competition. 

Pelagie Wilita bagged the team’s lone medal in the senior women’s category. The 27-year-old got the distinction in the 76kg series. She settled for the runners up award after losing her bout in the final of the category to defending champion, Damola Hannah Ojo of Nigeria. 

The disappointing showing in the 2026 championship means Cameroon has failed to win a gold medal in three of the last four editions of the championship.

Cameroon missed out on the prestigious metal during the 2023 and 2024 editions but returned among the elitist class last year when Cedric Abossolo dominated the men’s 97kg category in Casablanca.

Abossolo however returned in the competition this year to headline the list of Cameroonian representatives who completely missed the podium in the 2026 tournament.

Abossolo flops in Casablanca

Abossolo, 26, however ranked fourth in his category at the end of the 2026 event. He was handed the disappointing placing after losing to Nigeria’s Onovwiomogbohwo Harrison in the semifinal and later suffering another shocking loss to Algeria’s Wali Eddine Kebir in the bronze medal match. Onovwiomogbohwo went ahead to bag the gold medal in the category. 

Other wrestlers who missed out on the podium in the senior category where Cameroon was represented by six athletes included star wrestler Rosine Ntsa Assouga, Aimelda Ndiffo and Jacques Cedric Monty Mbougou.

Ntsa Assouga ranked fifth in Alexandria after failing to reach the quarterfinals stage in her women’s 50kg freestyle event.

The result saw the wrestler resultantly failing to repeat the runners up finish that she registered in the 2024 edition of the competition, just a year after she secured a gold medal in the 2023 La Francophonie Games.

Ndiffo placed fifth in the men’s 72kg category after losing his semifinal bout to Nigeria’s Ebi Biogos and later going down with another defeat in the bronze medal match, this time, to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Rosie Kabeya Tabora.

Monty Mbougou was eliminated in the first round by Benin’s Ouzeph Arouna who went on secure the gold medal in the men’s 74kg freestyle series. 

Betsengue wins Cameroon’s lone gold

The Cameroonian contingent harvested its lone gold medal through 16-year-old Merveille Betsengue Yene in the women’s 57kg category of the Under17 series.

The youngster who was making her debut in the African championships defeated Guinea Conakry’s Mariama Foula in the gold medal bout to bag the award after early victories against wrestlers from Kenya and Tunisia. 

Cameroon’s second representative in the U17 category, Emmanuel Petit Avele Avele, finished fourth in the men’s 71kg freestyle after losing to Tunisia’s Mohamed Ben Hamed in the bronze medal match following a similar loss to Mohamed Ahmed of Egypt in the semifinals. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3782 of Thursday May 07, 2026