Idris Adesina
Nigeria’s Odunayo Adekuoroye on Wednesday won silver in the 55kg women’s wrestling at the World Wrestling Championships in Paris, France after losing 5-4 to Japan’s Haruna Okuno.
The 23-year-old, who won a bronze at the 2015 World Championships, became Nigeria’s first wrestler to appear in the final of the World Championships. The medal is also the biggest Nigeria has won at the competition.
Adekuoroye led 18-year-old Okuno, who is the 2016 world cadet champion, earlier in the match but capitulated for the Japanese to win the bout.
Three Nigerians competed on Wednesday with Aminat Adeniyi losing out in the quarterfinals of the women’s 55kg while Blessing Oborududu lost 8-7 to Jackeline Castillo of Colombia in the bronze match of the women’s 63kg.
Enroute to the final, Adekuoroye defeated Mathilde Riviere of France 13-9 before beating Lenka Martinakova of the Czech Republic 10-0 in the second round. She also got the better of Davaachimeg Erkhembayar of Mongolia 8-4 in the quarterfinal and Belarusian Iryna Kurachkina 10-0 in the semifinals.
President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali, told our correspondent that he was proud of the team’s performance at the competition.
He said, “I am very proud of the team’s achievements so far. I believe in them and I know that they would give their best. The team faced a lot of challenges getting here from Nigeria. They didn’t have enough rest as much as the opponents they faced and didn’t have the complement of privileges their opponents have.
“It has shown that if Nigeria can invest in our talents in sports, we can actually produce the best athletes in the world.”
Brazzaville 2015 All Africa Games gold medalist Genesis will compete in the women’s 48kg on Thursday while Amas and John will take to the mat on Saturday in the men’s 65kg and 70kg freestyle.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com
source: http://ift.tt/2xdUvUk
http://ift.tt/eA8V8J