Kenya’s Wangila and Mburu win bronze at Africa Wrestling Championships

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WRESTLING Kenya’s Wangila and Mburu win bronze at Africa Wrestling Championships

Joel Omotto • 09:40 - 20.05.2023

The two have now qualified for the World Championship set to be held in Belgrade, Serbia in September

Kenya’s Emma Wangila and Eunice Mburu won bronze at the Africa Wrestling Championships in Hammamet, Tunisia on Friday.

Wangila emerged third in the 50kg category behind Nigerian Miesinnei Genesis, who won gold, and Algerian Cheima Chebila, who was second to claim silver, while Mburu completed the podium in the 65kg category, won by Khadija Jlassi from host country Tunisia, with Ebipatei Mughenbofa of Nigeria winning silver.

The Kenyan duo have, therefore, qualified for the World Championship set to be held in Belgrade, Serbia in September.

Only three wrestlers were entered at 65kg and 21-year-old Jlassi began her day with a 10-0 win over Mburu in Round 1 and looked in trouble against Mughenbofa who led 5-0 in the Round 2 bout.

But Mughenbofa was not aware of Jlassi's ability to pull off big throws. Jlassi, like many times in her career, unleashed a big throw and put Mughenbofa to her back to secure the fall and capture the gold medal.

Jlassi had missed out on the gold medal last year, winning silver at 65kg. But she has begun this year on a good note, winning the bronze medals at the Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Series and Dan Kolov international tournament.

Meanwhile, Genesis captured her fourth African title and first since 2019 as she had skipped the previous three editions. 

With only four wrestlers entered at 50kg, Genesis wrestled in three bouts and outscored her opponents 31-0, all three wins being technical superiority.

Nigeria continued to assert its dominance and defended its team title from last year with 230 points, 51 points more than second-placed Tunisia.

Additional information from United World Wrestling 

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