Team Nigeria arrive New York for Beat the Streets Wrestling

By Our Reporter

NIGERIAN contingent to the 2018 Beat the Streets tournament have safely arrived New York for the Invitational wrestling event, Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com reports.

The delegation made up of two Commonwealth Champions; Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg) and Aminat Adeniyi (62kg); head coach of the female national team, Purity Akuh, as well as the President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali , arrived New York on Monday afternoon aboard a Delta Airline.

However, Blessing Oborududu (68kg), who also won a gold medal for Nigeria at last month’s Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, is being held back in Abuja due to delay in the issuance of her US visa. She is expected to the join the rest of the delegation on Wednesday, nonetheless.

The one-day prestigious competition which brings some of the best wrestlers in the world together, will take place on 17 May at the famous Times Square in New York, and team Nigeria have been invited by the United States Wrestling Federation to participate at the event, with all their logistics taken care of by the organisers.

Speaking shortly before the team’s departure from Nigeria, coach Purity Akuh said: “I think the form in which they competed in Gold Coast, Australia is still very intact.

“And we are very happy that we are invited to the Beat The Streets wrestling invitational tournament.

“We are prepared enough, and I’m expecting that they will wrestle. I don’t want to put pressure on them, but I asked them to wrestle very well.

“And we have scouted some of the opponents we are going to wrestle with, so we found out what they are doing, what they are good in doing, and we are ready. We are ready to compete with them.”

The 2017 Coach of the Year added that the tournament will serve as a good preparation for the World Wrestling Championship in Budapest, Hungary, later this year.

“It’s going to be a plus to us because we are preparing for the World Championship, so these are the people we are going to meet in the World Championship. So If have a dual meet with them now, it’s going to be a very good preparation for us for the World Championship,” he said.

The Nigerian wrestlers are also billed to participate in another invitational tournament in Paris, France in December, 2018.