It turned out to be a bag of mixed fortunes for Nigerian wrestlers at the 2021 Poland Open in Warsaw, as two of the country’s female stars pulled through to podium spots, but same number fell short, megasportsarena.com reports.
Four female wrestlers, who have all qualified for the Games in Tokyo, Japan, competed alongside the only male, Ekerekeme Agiomor (86kg), Nigeria’s sole representative in the Freestyle event, in search of ranking points to enhance their global rating and to garner lofty prize money at stake.
Aside the ranking points and prize monies at stake, the Poland Open serves as a preparation for the Nigerian wrestlers towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which will take place from 23 July to August 8.
The couple of successes achieved by the contingent started with a runners-up spot by Blessing Oborodudu, following which Odunayo Adekuoroye won gold, but Aminat Adeniyi and Adijat Idris missed out.
Adeniyi (62kg) and youngster Idris (50kg) were unsuccessful in their attempts to win laurels at the tournament.
Adeniyi, a two-time Commonwealth champion, lost 6-0 to Liubov Ovcharova of Russia in the qualification round, while Idris was subdued 8-3 by another Russian Nadezhda Sokolova in the quarter-finals.
On the other hand, Oborududu triumphed 3-2 over Russian Khanum Velieva in the qualification round, before demolishing Nesrin Bas of Turkey 12-0 via pinfall in the last 8.
In the semi-finals, the former World No. 2 and 10-time African champion overpowered American Forrest Molinari 8-2, before succumbing to a 3-0 defeat to France’s Koumba Larroque in the gold medal bout.
Nigeria’s turnaround was sealed by Adekuoroye, as the former world number one laid down the marker in the 57kg class, impressively claiming gold.
That came a day after Oborududu won silver at the Ranking Series tournament in Warsaw, as Adekuoroye stepped up for her heroics in the qualification round.
The Commonwealth champion took out Ukrainian Tetyana Kit 10-0 via technical superiority, before utterly destroying World and Olympic champion, Helen Maroulis (USA) 13-0 in the quarter-finals in their first clash since 2018 in New York.
The three-time World Championships medalist also overcame Russian Valeria Zholobova 10-0 via superiority in the semi-finals to set up a final showdown against Iryna Kurachkina of Belarus.
Adekuoroye was then awarded a forfeit victory, clinching gold at the tournament without conceding a point, following the inability of the Belarusian Kurachkina to show up in the final.
