Nihel Cheikh Rouhou

Nihel Cheikh Rouhou ( Arabic نهال شيخ روحو, DMG Nihāl Šaiḫ Rūḥū ; * January 5, 1987 in Sfax ) is a Tunisian judoka . By 2019 she won four titles at the African Games and 17 titles at the African Championships.

Athletic career

The 1.64 m tall Nihel Cheikh Rouhou fights in the heavyweight or open class. From 2007 to 2011 she won five Tunisian heavyweight championship titles.

In 2005 Cheikh Rouhou won the U20 African Championships in Tunis. At the Africa Games in 2007 in Algiers, she won the open class and received bronze in the heavyweight division. At the 2007 World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, she finished seventh in the heavyweight division. In May 2008 she won the 2008 African Championships in Agadir in both heavyweight and open classes. At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 she won her first heavyweight fight against Carmen Chalá from Ecuador, in her second fight she was eliminated against the South Korean Kim Na-young . At the end of 2008 Nihel Cheikh Rouhou won the Police World Championships in both heavyweight and open classes.

In 2009 Cheikh Rouhou won the 2009 African Championships in Mauritius in both weight classes. At the Grand Slam tournament in Moscow she reached the final and then lost to the Japanese Maki Tsukada . She won a bronze medal at the Mediterranean Games in Pescara. In contrast, she lost to the Cuban Idalys Ortíz in her opening fight at the 2009 World Championships in Rotterdam . In early 2010, Cheikh Rouhou reached the final at the Grand Slam tournament in Paris and was then defeated by the Russian Jelena Iwaschtschenko . At the 2010 African Championships in Yaoundé she won both weight classes again. In September 2010, she retired from the World Championships in Tokyo in her second fight against the Mongolin Dordschgotowyn Tserenchand .

In 2011 Nihel Cheikh Rouhou won both titles for the fourth time in a row at the African Championships in Dakar . After she was eliminated in her second fight against Chinese Tong Wen at the World Championships in Paris in August , she won the heavyweight title at the 2011 African Games in Maputo in September with a final victory over Algerian Sonia Asselah . At the end of 2011, Cheikh Rouhou and Asselah met in the heavyweight final at the games of the Arab countries and the Tunisian won. Asselah won the Open Class in which Cheikh Rouhou won bronze. At the 2012 African Championships in Agadir, Cheikh Rouhou received two silver medals, in the heavyweight category behind Sonia Asselah and in the open class behind the Moroccan Rania El Kilali . At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Cheikh Rouhou lost in her first fight to the Brazilian Maria Suelen Altheman .

In 2013 Nihel Cheikh Rouhou won both titles at the African Championships in Maputo . Two months later she reached the heavyweight final at the Mediterranean Games in Mersin and was defeated by the Slovenian Lucija Polavder . At the Grand Slam tournament in Baku , Cheikh Rouhou lost in the final against South Korean Kim Min-jung in 2014 . At the African Championships in 2014 in Port Louis she reached the final twice against Sonia Asselah, Cheikh Rouhou won the heavyweight division and Asselah won the open class. At the World Championships in Chelyabinsk , she finished seventh.

Nihel Cheikh Rouhou won both titles at the 2015 African Championships in Libreville . After she was eliminated in the round of 16 against the Mexican Vanessa Zambotti at the World Championships in Astana , she won the heavyweight title two weeks later at the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville with a final victory against Sonia Asselah. In 2016 the African Championships took place in Tunis, Cheikh Rouhou won the heavyweight division and received bronze in the open class after a semi-final defeat against Vanessa Mballa from Cameroon. In July she reached the final of the Grand Slam tournament in Tyumen , she was defeated by the Japanese Nami Inamori . At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she defeated the Bosnian Larisa Cerić . After defeats against the French Émilie Andéol and against the Turkish Kayra Sayit , she finished seventh.

In 2017 Nihel Cheikh Rouhou hardly competed internationally. In November 2017, she fought in the open class at the World Championships. She lost to Cuban Idalys Ortíz in the quarter-finals, and won a bronze medal with victories over French Anne M'Bairo and Dutch Tessie Savelkouls . In 2018 she took third place at the Grand Prix tournament in Tunis and second place at the Grand Slam tournament in Düsseldorf . The 2018 African Championships took place in Tunis in April and Cheikh Rouhou won both titles. At the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, she lost to the Turkish Kayra Sayit in the final. At the 2018 World Championships in Baku , she was eliminated early on against Belarusian Maryna Sluzkaja . At the 2019 African Championships in Cape Town, there was no competition in the open class, in the heavyweight division Cheikh Rouhou won the final against Vanessa Mballa. Cheikh Rouhou and Mballa also met in the final of the 2019 African Games and the Tunisian won here too. At the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo, she was eliminated in the round of 16 against İrina Kindzerskaya from Azerbaijan.

Nihel Cheikh Rouhou mainly trained with the Tunisian national coach Anis Lounifi during her career .

Web links

• Tournament results at judoinside.com
• Nihel Cheikh Rouhou in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Footnotes

1. ↑ Match balance at judoinside.com
2. ^ Games of the Arab countries 2011 at judoinside.com
3. ↑ Mediterranean Games 2018 at judoinside.com
4. ↑ Match balance at judoinside.com