Loveth Howell national Open Judo Championship will kick off at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, Edo State on December 13.
The week-long tourney would feature male and female bouts in the senior, junior and cadet categories.
According to a statement made available by the Nigeria Judo Federation’s head of media, Phemmy Adetula, the competition named after Loveth Howell, a former national champion serves as a national ranking event for both judokas and referees.
Howell, who represented Nigeria at several international meets before retiring is now a board member of NJF.
President of NJF, Prince Timothy Nsirim, has promised that the current board will reorganise the sport in line with the international best practice module.
Nsirim also described 79th world ranked Winnie Gofit as the shining light of Nigerian judo.
Gofit, it will be recalled, won gold medal in the 70kg category at the recently held African Judo Invitational tournament.
“Gofit has been consistent in the last two years or so and she has made Nigeria proud every time she stepped on the mat. She is the shining light of Nigerian judo and we hope she will be an inspiration to the younger generation of judokas,” Nsirim said.
Gofit of the Nigerian Army had earlier in the year represented Nigeria at the World Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary before winning gold medal at the recently-held African Judo Open Championship in Senegal.
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