Three Nigerian women wrestlers secure Tokyo Olympic tickets

COMMONWEALTH wrestling champions Blessing Oborududu (68kg) and Aminat Adeniyi (62kg), as well as rookie Adijat Idris (50kg) have all qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics from the Africa/Oceania Olympic qualifying competition in Hammamet, Tunisia.

Oborududu, who is a 10-time African champion, beat Enas Ahmed of Egypt 13-2 and Senegal’s Anta Sambou 10-0 via technical superiority, before sealing a place at her third Olympics with a 4-0 pinfall victory against Tunisian Khadija Jlassi.

Adeniyi, a four-time African champion, recorded a 7-0 win against Amel Hammiche of Algeria, defeated Zineb Hassoune of Morocco 10-0 via technical superiority and overpowered Cameroon’s Berthe Ngolle 3-0.

Despite losing 3-1 to her great rival Marwa Amri 3-1, Adeniyi secured her place in Tokyo alongside the Tunisian Olympic bronze medallist.

Teenager Idris had two technical superiority wins against Egypt’s Nada Mohamed and Debora Ture of Guinea Bissau, scoring 11-0 and 15-4 respectively, and then overpowered Ibtissem Doudou of Algeria in her third round-robin match.

Despite a 2-1 loss to Tunisia’s Sarra Hamdi, 19-year-old Idris, who claimed gold at the Baraza Champion of Champions Wrestling tournament in Yenagoa in January, advanced to her maiden Olympics alongside the Tunisian.

 However, Bose Samuel lost in the quarter-finals of the 53kg category to her Cameroonian rival Joseph Essombe Tiako, who won 2-1 via pinfall.

Oborududu, Adeniyi and Idris will  join former world No.1 Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg) at the Tokyo 2020 Games billed  for 23 July to 8 August this year.

Adekuoroye already sealed her place at the Games by virtue of winning a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.

The men taking to the mats later on Sunday in the freestyle events.

Team Nigeria’s Amas Daniel (65kg), Ogbonna John (74kg), Soso Tamarau (97kg) Ekerekeme Agiomor (86kg) and Ebikewenimo Welson (57kg) will be hoping to seal their spots at the global Games.