{"id":297477,"date":"2026-05-03T03:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T03:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/297477\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T03:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T03:59:10","slug":"long-beachs-dunia-sibomana-rodriguez-golden-at-african-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/297477\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach’s Dunia Sibomana-Rodriguez golden at African Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dunia Sibomana-Rodriguez has dominated New York State high school wrestling for five years. The Long Beach senior placed five times in the state tournament, winning three Division I championships.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s had international impact. <\/p>\n

Sibomana-Rodriguez became the first Congolese wrestler in history to win gold in the U20 freestyle African Championships Thursday in Alexandria, Egypt. <\/p>\n

Competing at 125.5 pounds (57 kg) he reeled off four straight wins, outscoring his opponents, 33-1. It was pure dominance. He capped the tournament with an 11-1 win by technical fall over Algerian National champion Abderrezak Chenini. <\/p>\n

Sibomana-Rodriguez wasn\u2019t finished leaving his mark in Egypt. <\/p>\n

As if one record-setting gold medal wasn\u2019t enough, how about two! <\/p>\n

On Saturday, he doubled his pleasure with an elite performance in the Senior division (unlimited age), taking on opponents much older than him. There, he won three consecutive bouts. <\/p>\n

Sibomana-Rodriguez beat Roland Tambi Nforsong of Cameroon, a three-time African Senior Medalist and a 2024 runner-up, in the final. Sibomana-Rodriguez gained the first takedown against his 32-year-old opponent and proceeded to score on four straight gut wrenches to go on to a 10-0 win by technical fall in 51 seconds. <\/p>\n

The victory put the polish on a 3-0 record and drew the adulation of the crowd which chanted his name. After his hand was raised, he cloaked himself in the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and took a lap around the mat. Encouraged by his father, he then performed his signature cartwheel into a back flip. The Congolese team consumed him off the mat with singing, dancing and congratulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are calling him King Dunia \u2014 the King of Africa,\u201d said his father, Miguel Rodriguez. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe won double African Championship freestyle gold. No one has ever won a gold medal and he won two. He is representing his country and is humbled by the love and respect they have shown him since we arrived to join the Congolese team.\u201d <\/p>\n

It has been a whirlwind experience for Sibomana-Rodriguez and his father. On Monday, they took an 11-hour flight from New York to Turkey and then boarded a two-hour flight from Turkey to Egypt. The time change \u2014 seven hours later than the eastern time zone. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to get used to the time change,\u201d Sibomana-Rodriguez said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe trip was tiring but I needed the workouts to get my weight down and get ready. We [Congolese team] practiced three times a day. And the international freestyle is a little different than what I\u2019m used to. I figured it out quickly.\u201d <\/p>\n

The goal for Sibomana-Rodriguez is to represent the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a lifelong dream for me,\u201d Sibomana-Rodriguez said. \u201cI left my country because of a life-changing tragedy. Now I want to return to my country of birth and proudly represent them on the international stage as a World Team member. This is a big step.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in this position because of the love and support of my family, and the Long Island community that helped us raise the money needed to get to Egypt,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis opportunity doesn\u2019t happen without the generosity of so many people, and I want to say thanks. I have the chance to inspire people and do something special. And I can also have an impact on my people in my homeland and make them proud.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the age of six years old, Sibomana-Rodriguez was playing just outside his village of Rutshuru in the jungle of the Virunga National Park, a vast animal preserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa, when a troop of chimpanzees attacked him and two family members. His brother and cousin were killed in the attack. <\/p>\n

Sibomana-Rodriguez survived but was left with horrific injuries to his lips, ears and face. His right ear and facial muscles were gone and the middle finger on his left hand was bitten off. The attack made it difficult for him to speak or swallow. <\/p>\n

Sibomana-Rodriguez was brought to the United States in December 2015, by a New York-based, non-profit surgical care program at Stony Brook Children\u2019s Hospital where a team of surgeons began his care. <\/p>\n

Dr. Alexander Dagum, the executive chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Stony Brook Medicine and Dr. Leon Klempner an associate professor of dentistry at the Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine and the founder of the nonprofit organization Smile Rescue Fund for Kids teamed to care for Sibomana-Rodriguez. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis is an inspiring story of courage and perseverance,\u201d said Long Beach coach Ray Adams. \u201cHe\u2019s a humble kid loved by everyone. He wants to make an impact in this world and I believe he will. He has dreams and he\u2019s writing the next chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Senior Division tournament, Sibomana-Rodriguez found the competition different, older, slicker and much stronger. These were men not high school boys. <\/p>\n

He pushed the distance for the first and only time all week in a battle against two-time Senior Arab gold medalist, Alaa Ali Sheba Elsayed, of the host country. He won 3-2 to advance to the semifinal round. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Senior tournament was much tougher,\u201d Sibomana-Rodriguez said. \u201cI had to prepare more angles for my attack, and I needed to be slick with these opponents. It wasn\u2019t all muscle, but it was more technical.\u201d <\/p>\n

With the wrestling complete, Sibomana-Rodriguez was invited to meet with the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Sunday. They also plan to visit the pyramids in Cairo, Egypt.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in Africa knows Dunia\u2019s story,\u201d Miguel Rodriguez said. \u201cHe\u2019s been all over the news. He\u2019s felt the fans energy in the stadium. These are his people \u2014 he\u2019s home in the Congo \u2014 it\u2019s incredible.\u201d <\/p>\n

Early in 2027 Sibomana-Rodriguez will travel to Kinshasa, the capitol of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s qualified to wrestle in the Olympic trials,\u201d Miguel Rodriguez said. \u201cThe best is yet to come.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Gregg<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tGregg Sarra is Newsday’s high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dunia Sibomana-Rodriguez has dominated New York State high school wrestling for five years. The Long Beach senior placed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[66332,131,133,132],"class_list":["post-297477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-hs-wrestling-boys","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}