The president of Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Honorable Daniel Igali has revealed that the country’s wrestlers and coaches will have to continue keeping themselves and shape and stay focused with individual drills away from the national camp, due to restrictions caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, megasportsarena.com reports.
Igali pointed out that all grapplers and tacticians have to face up to the reality of how the global COVID-19 pandemic has curtailed activities of the wrestling federation, which have necessitated new ideas and innovations in training routines, among which is arranging sparring sessions and drills without the regular wrestling mats they are used to.
He pressed egg heads of the federation for coming up with fresh ideas and a sound technical response to manage the situation, which will ensure that the country’s wrestlers do not get completely out of shape while the pandemic lasts.
He added that the wrestlers and their coaches have been briefed on the type of training drills they can embark on and still keep to physical distancing and self-isolation rules, with particular emphasis on avoiding the mats and avoiding body contact, even as they maintain conditioning tactical training and other related routines of the grapplers’ sport.
Igali concluded: “Our activities have been curtailed by the Coronavirus but we’ve told athletes to stay active. Staying active does not mean that we have to be on the mat. We’ve tried avoiding physical one on one contact, that until further notice we don’t train on the mat. All the coaches around the country have been briefed.”
