THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
• Adeniyi still hopes for third place finish
Team Nigeria’s hope of a laurel at the on-going World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary suffered another setback yesterday as the country’s Odunayo Adekuoroye and Aminat Adeniyi were booted out of the championships.
Adekuoroye, a former silver medallist in the championships, fell to the same Indian, Dhanda Pooja, she defeated at the final of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia earlier in the year.
The Nigerian hope, who was in control of the evenly balanced match, eventually succumbed to the will power of the Indian, who won the match by a 7-6 decision.
Adekuoroye had earlier won her first game by defeating her Japanese opponent, Sakagami K in a pin fall decision.
Adeniyi lost 0-8 to Japan’s Kawai Y in her opening match. But she still has another opportunity to come back for a medal if Kawai beats every opposition on her way to the final of the 62 kg women’s freestyle event.
In that case, Adeniyi will need to defeat two opponents for her to have any hope of winning a bronze medal at the championships.
Reacting to the defeats, the Nigerian Wrestling Federation President, Daniel Igali said Adekuoroye’s loss was painful, adding that the Nigerian should have won despite the stiff opposition from the Indian.
“This was the same girl that Adekuoroye defeated to win gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, now she has taken her pound of flesh on her conqueror at the Gold coast. It is unfortunate that Adekuoroye couldn’t maintain her lead until that loss of concentration.
“In the case of Adeniyi, she is still in the race and hopefully she may stand a chance of competing for the bronze medal should Kawai fight her way into the final of the weight category.
“We will wait and see what happens and if it does, that means Adeniyi will have to wrestle two more times for her to have the hope of winning at least a bronze medal,” he stated.
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