IJF Confirms P.M. EXPRESS Report, Judoka Enku Ewa Ekuta Didn’t Qualify For Tokyo Olympics

ABDULLAHI NURUDEEN KEHINDE

At long last, the controversy over the qualification of Enku Ewa-Ekuta for the Tokyo Olympics has been laid to rest.

Thanks to the International Judo Federation, IJF which has finally released the names of judokas for the quadrennial games.

In the minus 63 kg category, the two continental qualifiers were Billiet Sandrine of Cape Verde and Danielle Nomenjanahary of Madagascar.

Billiet amassed 878 points to clinch the ticket and stand at 56th position in the global rankings.

Danielle who ended her glorious run to the Olympics as 63rd on the world rating amassed 667 points.

Enku finished at 66th position with 630 points. Only two slots of the twelve continental qualification slots for women in Africa were allotted to the minus 63 kg category.  

The twelve slots were shared among the seven weight categories for women.

Curiously, in February Enku was presented to the world as having qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Nigerian media  excluding PM Express celebrated the news which was blatant falsehood.

For those following the sport she could not have qualified in February when she was not ranked among the top eighteen in the world.

And secondly qualifiers were still on going and would end in June. 

PM Express published the true story.

While Enku and her handlers were celebrating the hoax, Billiet who was not in contention for qualification in February was working on her strategy.

The Cape Verdian sealed her qualification with a robust performance in the Africa Championships in Senegal where she scored 490 points and in the World Championship in Hungary where she scored 240 points.

Enku was in Senegal but returned with a blank cheque. 

However, many questions are being asked but answers are not forthcoming. Some of the questions are Who invented the qualification story? For what reason was the falsehood invented? Who benefited from the falsehood?

Only a panel of inquiry would get to the root of this damning development.