Barely a day after sealing her place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Odunayo Adekuoroye, Nigerian wrestler, won a bronze medal at the ongoing 2019 Senior World Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
The 25-year-old wrestler, who had lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champion Risako Kawai of Japan, in the 57 kg category, outclassed Moldova’s Anastasia Nichita 10-0 via technical superiority in the bronze medal match on Thursday.
The win means Adekuoroye has added to the bronze and silver medals she won in the competition in 2015 (USA) and 2017 (France) respectively.
It is also the Commonwealth champion’s third medal in the history of the competition.
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“As you can see, we (Nigeria) came here with five girls and a male, who hasn’t got any medal, so it was like I really need to make my country proud,” Adekuoroye told United World Wrestling.
“I am so very happy because everyone is my fan and they have been wishing me well even before I qualified. So I am so very glad that I did not put them to shame. I’m happy.
“For my coach Akuh Purity, I know he is proud of me now, and I am so very proud of him for training me.”
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In the meantime, Blessing Oborududu, 9-time African champion in the 68kg category, will be fighting Michelle Montague of New Zealand in the repechage on Friday, as she eyes an Olympic ticket and a possible maiden World Championships medal.
https://twitter.com/wrestlingngr/status/1174604740317110272?s=21
If she defeats Montague, Oborududu will face Sara Dosho of Japan for a place in the bronze medal match.
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