Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire – South Africa’s Jasmine Martin delivered a brilliant performance to capture gold in the women’s under-63kg division at the 2025 African Judo Championships, reaffirming her place among the continent’s elite judokas.
Martin, 24, was determined to upgrade last year’s silver medal — where she narrowly lost to Guinea’s Mariana Esteves in a tense final in Cairo — and her focus paid off. Building on the momentum of her African Games gold medal triumph in Accra last year, Martin returned to the top of the podium, this time crowned as the continental champion.
Her path to the title was anything but easy. She overcame some of Africa’s most decorated and formidable opponents:
- Audrey Jeannette Etoua Biock (Cameroon): A seasoned competitor with seven African Open gold medals to her name over the past seven years, Biock proved a tough opening challenge, but Martin’s tactical sharpness prevailed.
- Anna Siga Faye (Senegal): In the quarterfinals, Martin defeated Faye, a former Junior African Cup U21 champion, showcasing her superior grip fighting and control.
- Amina Belkadi (Algeria): The semifinal presented perhaps Martin’s greatest test. Belkadi, 32, entered the tournament as the defending African champion and boasts a string of accolades including medals from the Oceania Open (Perth) and Grand Slam events. After a gruelling contest, Martin’s composure and technical precision secured her passage to the final.
In the championship match, Martin faced Morocco’s Chaimae Taibi, a rising talent who had recently won bronze at the 2024 African Championships in Cairo and the 2025 African Open in Tunis. Despite Taibi’s growing reputation, Martin asserted her dominance early and sealed an emotional victory.
Following her triumph, an elated Martin took to social media to express her gratitude to her support system, including her personal coach Antonio Esposito, her strength and conditioning coach, mental coach, nutritionist, the South African team, and her training partners at Italy’s Fiamme Gialle club. She also paid special tribute to her girlfriend, Italian Olympic champion Alice Bellandi, for her unwavering support.
“A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made this possible: the South African Team and Coach Gerald, my personal coach @antoniojudo81, my strength and conditioning coach @coachfava, my mental coach @silvipsy, my nutritionist @fagnanifrancesco, my parents who support and sacrifice for my dream, my training partners at Fiamme Gialle, and a big thank you to my girlfriend @bellandialice who supports me day in and day out. THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING,” Martin posted.
Speaking in a post-match interview, Martin reflected on the immense hard work behind her achievement and hinted at even bigger ambitions ahead.
“It was good, been working very hard. I just tried to focus on every individual fight in front of me, and it worked out. I’m looking forward to a short break, then coming back even stronger,” she said.
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