History of Judo in Nigeria

The story

How judo grew in Nigeria

Judo is a Universal Olympic sports and a method of physical, intellectual and moral education. It was founded in Nigeria when the interest of the game started increasing in the country to foster appropriate support for all the youths of the country that have declared interest for the game.

Judo originated in Japan, where Jigoro Kano founded it in 1882, and it officially entered the Olympic programme at the Tokyo 1964 Games. Specifically, in Nigeria judo was officially introduced in the year 1973 which was exactly when Nigerian Amateur Judo Association was formed. It has involved men, women, boys and girls; it is for the strong and the not so strong specifically those that have the desire for sports.

It has become one of the basic sports in the country that over thousands of people across the nation now have a passion for and this brought about the establishment of many judo associations which commenced immediately after the insight was broadened in Nigeria. The professional bodies are Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF) and Nigerian Amateur Judo Association (NAJA).

Winnie Gofit of the Nigerian Army, who competes in both judo and freestyle wrestling, won gold for Nigeria at the 2017 African Wrestling Championships in Marrakech, Morocco. At the 1977 ECOWAS Games, the Nigerian Amateur Judo Association won a gold medal, two silver medals and four bronze medals.

The 8th All Africa Games which was billed for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja held in October 2003, saw the judo events hosted by the Nigerian Judo Federation. It was an event during which 53 countries participated in 23 sports which Nigeria was one of the countries that showed active participation in most of the games.

The Judo Federation, specifically, gave a performance benchmark of three 3 gold medals in the game but Nigeria judo couldn’t meet up due to poor performance from some of the participants.

Nigerian judoka Gofit was the only Nigerian at the 2017 World Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She was the national judo champion at 70kg and won gold in freestyle wrestling at the 2017 African Wrestling Championships in Marrakech, Morocco. Coach Ekuta Catherine Ewa is a seasoned judoka who represented Nigeria at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and won three All-Africa Games medals.

Championships and new horizons

During the 2014 National Judo Championship, Rivers State won by 6 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze medals, while Delta State came second with 5 gold medals, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals at the indoor sports hall of the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City.

Nigeria participated in Judo competition at the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville, Congo in September 2015. Before the commencement of the event, the Nigeria Judo Federation conducted a two days test in order to select expert teams that could win laurels at the 11th All Africa Games. However, their name was not added to the medallist because they couldn’t meet up with their expectations.

Sometime in May 2017, 13 officials from Nigeria Judo Federation attended an international Judo Federation course held in Lusaka, Zambia and the outcome became an outstanding one as all of them scaled through.

During the same year in 2017, judo was introduced to Youth Commonwealth Game in which they opened up categories where they gave Nigeria two slots; one male and one female. On this note, the country began to make efforts to ensure that they win a medal.

Following the Vanguard News on the 7th December 2017, National Open Judo Championship was billed to kick-off from the 13th of December 2017 at the Ogbe Stadium, Benin, Edo State. On this note, the President of Nigeria Judo Federation (NJF), Prince Timothy Nsirim, explained that the tournament which was named after Loveth Howell, a former National Champion, will also serve as a national ranking event for judokas and referees.

Nigerian judo participated also in the 6th edition of the Youth Commonwealth Games of 19th - 23rd July 2017 in Nassau, Bahamas. The games feature 9 sports which included aquatics, athletics, rugby sevens, beach volleyball, beach soccer, cycling, boxing, tennis and judo.

Alexander De Souza, who is an international referee, encouraged Nigeria not to miss any of the 2018 tournaments which include the Commonwealth Judo Championships, 2018 Youth Olympics, Africa Youth Games fixed in July 2018, Grand Slam, Grand Prix, Continental Open championships and others. He also added that the reason is that they count for 2020 Olympics qualifying from 2018 till first quarter 2020.