Morocco and Algeria are currently tied at the top of the leaderboard with 11 medals apiece.
Rabat – Thousands of athletes from across Africa have landed in Rabat and Casablanca for the 2019 African Games. Officially beginning Monday, August 19, the games continue until August 31.
Morocco has dozens of sportsmen and women competing in under 20 football teams, beach volleyball, judo, and handball.
Some rounds of competition have already got underway, even before tonight’s opening ceremony.
Morocco has already scooped up 11 medals in judo. Leading the pack, Issam Bassou won gold in men’s under 60 kilogram judo, and Chaimae Eddinari won gold in women’s under 48 kilogram judo. Morocco’s other judokas picked up five silver and two bronze medals.
Algeria and Morocco are leading the medals table with 11 each. However, Egypt has the most golds so far, with four.
Both men’s and women’s football kicked off on Friday, August 16. The Moroccan women’s team beat Algeria 3-2. The Confederation of African Football declared the under 20 Atlas Lions as the winning team after their game with South Africa was cancelled.
Tomorrow, Morocco’s Atlas Lions will take on Burkina Faso, and the women’s football team will play Equatorial Guinea.
Read also: Morocco Suffers Nationwide Shortage of Blood Donations
In beach volleyball, group stage games began Friday, with both Moroccan men’s and women’s teams putting in solid performances. The women’s team, Nora Nezha Jihane Darrhar and Imane Zeroual, won three group stage games against Sudan, Namibia, and Sierra Leone. However, they lost in the quarterfinal to Mozambique.
The men’s beach volleyball team, Mohammed Abicha and Zouheir el Graoui, have won two group stage games, against Libya and Tunisia. Abicha and El Graoui lost to the Gambia.
Morocco is participating in the games for the first time since it rejoined the African Union in 2017.
