JUDOKA MUNG’ANDU PINS ZULU TO REIGN SUPREME AND SECURE GOLD
Over the weekend hundreds of judokas and spectators felt the adrenaline of waiting to see their favourite athlete declared winner after a lengthy fight.
It was the battle of the fittest when two top Zambian judokas Steven Mung’andu of Green Eagles and Simon Zulu of Nkwazi Judo Club battled it out on the tatami during the 34th Japanese Ambassador’s Judo Cup held at the OYDC Zambia – Sports Development Centre.
The duo had an intense fight of enduring the pain of being pinned on the tatami for the standard time of four minutes’ contest which saw the fight extended into twenty-two minutes of Golden score bringing the total match time to twenty-six minutes.
It was at this point that Mung’andu who nearly lost the fight as he seemed tired along the way while perspirating heavily claimed victory leaving Zulu astonished while his supporters demanded a video review.
Jubilation rocked the dojo hall when it was announced that Mung’andu was the actual winner who was going home with a gold medal in the -66kg.
In his own words, Mung’andu described Zulu as a good fighter who never gives up so easily adding that at the end of the day, there can be one winner.
“Simon is a good fighter, it was a tough fight we had and you saw how we pinned each other. This fight was interesting and it gave me the motivation not to give up as I spotted a few mistakes in Simon which made me win” he shared with our media team.
Zulu accepted defeat saying the fight was not easy and congratulated Mung’andu for emerging victorious at the end of the day adding that the training the duo did in Budapest, Hungary was worthwhile and made them strong judokas for the nation.
