Sports: African athletes to follow in 2021
Congolese boxer Martin Bakole.
Sportsfile via Getty Images - Stephen McCarthy
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
6 min
Many sporting events, such as the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, have been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2021 program promises to be busy for African athletes.
RFI invites you to follow ten more particularly over the coming months.
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Martin Bakole (DR Congo / Boxing)
The Congolese has held for a few weeks the belt of international heavyweight champion of the WBC, one of the four major professional boxing federations.
The little brother of Junior World Champion Makabu is now flirting with the top 15 in his category.
If he manages to chain together fights and victories in 2021, he could make his hole in the world elite.
Barbra Banda (Zambia / Football)
After shining in China last season, where she finished top scorer in the championship, the 20-year-old Zambian hopes to surprise Japan next summer.
The striker and her national team will indeed play the women's football tournament at the Tokyo Games.
With her impressive physique - Barbra Banda has 5 professional boxing fights to her credit - the captain of the Copper Queens is in any case one of the great hopes of African football.
Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda / Athletics)
In 2020, the Ugandan created a sensation by beating in the space of a few weeks the world records of 5,000 and 10,000 meters held for many years by the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele.
The conditions were however met to favor these exploits.
Suddenly, athletics fans are wondering: will the reigning 10,000m world champion extend his dominance to Tokyo?
Giana Farouk (Egypt / Karate)
Karate will make a foray into the Olympic Games, on the occasion of “Tokyo 2020”.
A chance for Giana Farouk, who has six medals at the World Championships (including 3 gold), to enter a little more into the legend of Egyptian sport.
At the Olympics, the reigning African champion will in any case be one of the favorites, in the under 61 kg category.
Biniam Girmay (Eritrea / Cycling)
The new nugget of African cycling, voted best rider on the continent at the age of only 20, will try to confirm this season, whether with the Delko team based in France or with the Eritrean selection.
Biniam Girmay can hope to do as well as his compatriots Natnael Berhane and Daniel Teklehaimanot who have succeeded in establishing themselves in the European cycling landscape.
Francis Ngannou (Cameroon / MMA)
In January 2018, the Cameroonian lost his first mixed martial arts (MMA) world championship, against the heavyweight king of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Stipe Miocic.
Three years later, "The Predator" has pulverized all his other opponents and should finally have a second chance against the American.
Francis Ngannou is eager to take revenge on a UFC which forced him to wait so long to get a second "title shot".
Yahia Omar (Egypt / Handball)
Egypt is set to host the 2021 Men's World Championship, the first to 32 teams in history.
The young right-back (23 years) from Veszprem, one of the best clubs on the planet, has the necessary assets to be one of the revelations of this World Cup at home, then in the European Champions League with his Hungarian training.
Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria / Football)
FC Barcelona is now investing in women's football and counting a lot on the Nigerian, irresistible in December with 8 goals scored in 6 games (all competitions).
In particular to find the European summits and the final of the Champions League.
Jordy Smith (South Africa / Surf)
For the first time, there will be surfing at the Olympics.
Jordy Smith, a safe bet on the World Surf League for over a decade, will be the main African chance for a medal in Tokyo in this discipline.
Often placed but rarely victorious, the great South African will have the opportunity to enter fully into the legend of his sport.
Raoua Tlili (Tunisia / Athletics)
For the Tunisian, the big goal is obviously Tokyo.
In Japan, the pitcher can join the very closed club of Africans who won a gold medal during four Paralympic Games.
The discus world champion will have to wait to defend her title at the Worlds, however, the next edition having been postponed to 2022.
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