Four wrestlers representing Nigeria at the ongoing 2018 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest , Hungary, crashed out of the tournament without getting to the medal zones.
Aminat Adeniyi, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Blessing Onyebuchi , Blessing Oborududu were Nigeria’s representatives in the women ’s category, but No male wrestlers was Part of the team.
Adekuoroye competed in the 57 kg category, Onyebuchi pulled her weight in the 76 kg, as Oborududu competed in the 68 kg and Commonwealth medalist Adeniyi also bowed out of the championship having competed in the 62 kg.
Adekuoroye who outclassed her Japanese opponent Katsuki Sakagami 11 – 6 in her first match, could not repeat the interesting performance as she lost 7 – 6 to India’ s Pooja Dhanda in the second round to suffer elimination, Adeniyi, on her part kissed the championship goodbye in round 32 with an 8 – 0 embarrassing defeat in the hand of Yukako Kawai of Japan.
Onyebuchi , succumbed to Estonia’s Epp Mae and Oborududu also tasted elimination in the round of 16 with a 6 – 4 loss to China ’ s Zhou Feng , although She won her first match, beating Anna Schell of Germany.
Meanwhile ,President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation Daniel Igali, who won gold medal at Sydney 2000 Olympics , said the wrestlers tried their best, adding that Nigeria needs to invest in the sport to among the best in the world.
He said , “ As a board , we have been working very hard on sponsorship but I think we still need to do more . It was a tough challenge for the federation to get the four girls to Budapest for this World Championships.
We may not have had the best results, but in all frankness , the athletes have wrestled very well.
They are competitive . That gives one hope that in two years we will be fine at the Olympics.
“India went to Budapest with 30 wrestlers – 10 in each of freestyle, Greco Roman and female wrestling.
Canada were there with 25 athletes – 10 each in male and female freestyle and five in Greco Roman. Those are our immediate oppositions at the Commonwealth Games. For any chance of a proper preparation for the Olympics , 2019 is very crucial for the sport.”
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