Luanda: Angola won 24 medals, of which 11 were gold, six were silver, and seven were bronze, in the International Rhythmic Gymnastics and Tumbling Tournament held at the Kilamba pavilion, as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of National Independence. In this unprecedented competition that ended on Friday, gymnast Luana Gomes confirmed her status as African champion (Rwanda 2024) by winning five gold medals.
According to Angola Press News Agency, the achievements of the senior athlete, who is competing in Portugal, were achieved in the individual all-around specialty and four in the individual apparatus, where she won in ribbon, ball, club, and circle. The other gold medal in the national combined event was won in rhythmic by Brgida Gouveia in the ribbon apparatus, with two other gold medals in the overall team event in juniors and seniors.
In the country rankings, in the junior category, Angola came in first place with 98.6 points, followed by Namibia with 93.6 points. Brazil followed in third place with 48.30 points. In the senior category, Angola once again beat the competition, with 256 points. Second place went to Namibia, with 193.10 points, while Zimbabwe took third place with 99.50 points.
In tumbling, the discipline that closed the competition, the Angolan team also topped the women’s podium, with a gold medal in the junior category won by Domingas Chimbali, and another gold medal in the senior category won by Julmira Segunda. In this category, Angola also took silver in the junior category, won by Madalena Njimbe, and in the senior category, won by Angelina Elias. Angola also won the bronze in the senior women’s event, won by Angelina Elias, while Arianna Mukaro from Zimbabwe took the bronze in the junior category.
Also in tumbling, in the men’s event, the national team dominated only in the junior category, where it had no opposition from foreigners, winning the three podium places, with the gold being won by Alegria Malemba, Janu¡rio Tungawassi (silver), and Pedro Muendagula (bronze). In the senior category, the national team was content with the silver won by Asser Ant³nio and the bronze by Pedro Sacupuepua, since the gold was won by the world runner-up Vasco Peso (Coimbra 2024). In tumbling, the fifth-best athlete in the world, the Portuguese Vasco Peso, was the greatest “flyer,” by performing successive pirouettes in a single jump.
In six days, the competition, which was attended by the president of the African Gymnastics Confederation, Ehab Amin Esawy, had only two notable incidents. One was a sprain suffered by an Angolan tumbling gymnast and the other was a fractured radius suffered by an athlete from Zimbabwe, forcing her to withdraw and receive treatment at the Zango 8000 hospital, according to the doctor on duty at the event, Nelson Geraldo.
To organize this unprecedented tournament, after 46 years of existence, the Angolan Gymnastics Federation received support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and acquired, for the first time, an official rhythmic mat and tumbling warm-up tracks.
