Igali hails Team Nigeria for winning African Wrestling Championship

By Akeem Lawal

PRESIDENT of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali has commended Team Nigeria wrestlers for emerging the overall champions of the just concluded African Wrestling Championship held at the Alfred Diete Spiff Sports Complex in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The championship which had 90 gold medals at stake, saw about  25 countries contested for trophies under Greco-Roman and Freestyle and Women’s Wrestling in Cadet, Juniors and Senior categories and Nigeria emerged tops in four major categories; cadet women wrestling, junior freestyle, senior women wrestling and senior freestyle wrestling.

In total, Nigeria finished with 26 gold, 19 silver and 18 bronze medals, Egypt followed with 22 gold, 17 silver and 7 bronze medals, while in third place is Algeria with 16 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals.

In a chat with Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com, Igali expressed satisfaction with the performance of the wrestlers said the federation’s attention now is this year’s Commonwealth Games which will be held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia between 4 and 15 April 2018.

“It was a fantastic tournament, wonderful fans and supporters. The organization was almost flawless, the sponsorship was amazing and most importantly Team Nigeria wrestled like they’ve never wrestled before and I’m so happy with everything.

“The whole essence of the cadet is to prepare our athletes for international tournaments. For us at the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, it is not about whether they win but them getting the experience and when they get involved in international competitions, hopefully in few years to come when they are between 20 and 21, we will start expecting results from them.

“In two years we are going to win a medal at the Olympics, which is the goal. But our immediate goal is the Commonwealth Games in April and hopefully we are going to do better than we did at the last Commonwealth Games. We’ve been preparing and training but the next six weeks are critical and it will depend on how well we are able to handle the six weeks to have any form of success at the Commonwealth Games,” Igali told Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com.

The team trophies were presented in this order:

CADET

Freestyle:

1. South Africa

2. Nigeria

3. Algeria

Greco-Roman:

1. Egypt

2. Nigeria

3. Algeria

Women Wrestling:

1. Nigeria  

2. Tunisia

3. Egypt  

JUNIORS

Freestyle:

1. Nigeria

2. Algeria

3. Egypt  

Greco-Roman:

1. Egypt

2. Nigeria

3. Algeria

Women Wrestling:

1. Tunisia

2. Nigeria

3. Algeria  

SENIOR CATEGORY

Freestyle:

1. Nigeria

2. South Africa

3. Egypt

Greco Roman:

1. Egypt

2. Algeria

3. Morocco

Women Wrestling:

1. Nigeria

2. Tunisia

3. Egypt