Une rencontre franco-béninoise
Source : Worldskate
#sourceworldskate
"It was a great experience for us to share this week with the freestyle African community"
The 2nd edition of the African Inline Freestyle Championship took place from the 04th to the 08th of August 2021, in Cotonou, Benin. The competition was held under the aegis of World Skate Africa and the Beninese Roller Sports Federation along with a boot camp for judges and some rules and technical courses for the skaters.
"It was a great experience for us to share this week with the freestyle African community", hinted Ronan Martin Calculator judge and his Chief Referee Thierry Menard. Representing the Worldskate, their mission was to supervise the competition, but also bring a plus to the players in the discipline. In parallel with the competition, they underwent a complete 5 days judge training to 6 African judges from Benin and Senegal. In addition a workshop was dedicated to classic slalom in order to launch the first Slalom classic competition in Africa. By the way, each day, before the opening, and at the end of the competition, a series of training sessions were organized for judges and athletes. These sessions allowed the actors to exchange ideas between them.
The competition
The athletes involved have measured themselves in several events: Battle Slalom, Speed Slalom, Free Jump and the Classic Slalom which is an event organized for the first time in Africa.
At the end of the competition, it is Benin which was crowned champion with 11 medals including 4 Gold medals
5 Silver and 2 Bronze. In the Senior Men, Charif-Dine Karimou alone won 3 Gold medals in Battle Slalom, Speed Slalom and Classic Slalom. “I prepared to win. This is the result of several months of training even at the show"; explains the Beninese. He did not fail to congratulate his compatriot Fawaz Bahna who obtained a Gold medal in the Speed Slalom in the Junior Men.
Sudan was ranked 2nd with 7 medals: 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze.
Free jump
Thanks to Dame Fall champion in Free Jump with a jump of 1m60, Senegal finished at the third place of the podium. In his words, Fall explained how he managed to get in Benin. “I came with my own means to defend the colors of my country. I'm happy for this Gold medal. But I would have liked to beat my personal best"; he said before inviting the actors of African Roller Sports to the union. Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau finished tied for 4th for each winning a bronze medal.
And ?
Sunday Morning, a meeting was organized by the president Koty and his general secretary Mr Konan. With the participation of all the President or delegates, it was an opportunity to convene key stakeholders in identifying and addressing the challenges facing Inline Freestyle Skating in Africa, as well as anticipating future challenges. For the Inline freestyle 3 mains streams were defined on the lead of the president of the African Inline Freestyle Babacar Ndiaye:
To promote and facilitate the practice of women
To develop WEB solution and physical Judges and Coach training
Material and sponsorship.
Some regular meetings will be launched by Mr Ndiaye in the following weeks to address these topics with the support of Thierry Menard.
Without the effort of all the Benin Federation and his president Marius Gaga Tchibozo, and the financial support of local sponsors and of the African Worldskate, this event couldn't have been successful. It is a second important step after the African medals of the last rollergames to demonstrate the level of performance and motivation of all the Inline Freestyle family.
It shows that we are on the right track, but much remains to be done to develop our sport in Africa. If you are interested in supporting this project, please contact the African Technical Committee of Inline freestyle (email inlinefreestyleafricaws@gmail.com).
