NIGERIA: Two female wrestlers from Nigeria's oil rich but impoverished Niger Delta are among those who have qualified to represent the country at the London Olympics in July
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235646
NIGERIA: Two female wrestlers from Nigeria's oil rich but impoverished Niger Delta are among those who have qualified to represent the country at the London Olympics in July
- Title: NIGERIA: Two female wrestlers from Nigeria's oil rich but impoverished Niger Delta are among those who have qualified to represent the country at the London Olympics in July
- Date: 10th May 2012
- Summary: CLOSE OF TV SCREEN
- Embargoed: 25th May 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVAD459QRF128UMSI5A9ZN2QWN9V
- Story Text: On the wiped-down padded mats of a training hall in Nigeria's oil rich Niger Delta, wrestlers practice their throws and takedowns. Some of them will be taking part in the London Olympics come July and the sessions are getting harder and more intense.
Holding her own on a mat shared with male wrestlers, Blessing Oborodudu (in a yellow shirt) struggles to tangle her opponent into submission.
The 23-year-old has qualified for the Olympics and will fight it out on the 63kg division for her very first time at an international competition and she wants her debut to be golden.
"I want to train very hard, I am very hungry to win gold for the Olympics," she said.
Also on the team is Amarachi Obiajunwa who represented Nigeria at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing but lost in the final to Ali Bernard from USA.
The 25-year-old will be contesting the 73kg category at the London games in the free style zone, the country's current area of specialty.
"I am preparing very well for this Olympic games and pray that I will put in all my efforts to make sure that I get me that this (gold medal)," she said.
Four wrestlers have already qualified for Nigeria's wrestling Olympics team -- the other two are men.
Daniel Igali, Nigeria's Olympic gold medallist in men's freestyle wrestling at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, is the team's coach.
"I think there are lots of upcoming athletes, very competitive athletes and I hope we get a breakthrough at this olympic because Nigeria has never won an Olympic medal in wresting and we are thinking that we are going to change that this time," said Igali.
Blessing and Amarachi are also roommates. When they are not training at the gym, they are often watching wrestling matches on television, trying to pick up on other wrestlers strategies to perfect their own skills.
But their path to the games was not easy. Blessing and Amarachi say they have struggled to get the support they need financially and in terms of assistance from sports authoriries.
"I don't think they are putting a lot of effort on us because they focus on football, they don't take wrestling as any other sport. Some of them look at wrestling as a dirty game because of the way they take us. If they treat us the way they treat footballers, wrestling would go far in Nigeria," Blessing said.
The two wrestlers will take part in the final round of qualifiers to be held later this month in China and Finland.
Wrestling bouts take place on a mat, over three rounds of two minutes, with a 30-second break between them and the aim is to force the opponent's shoulders and back on to the ground for two seconds, called a pin. In freestyle, the protagonists are permitted to use all parts of their body to attempt moves, locks and holds. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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