From the five men that competed on the final day of the Africa-Oceania Olympic Qualifying tournament in Tunisia, Ekerekeme Agiomor is the only Nigeria male wrestler that qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Agiomor who fought in the men’s 86kg beat Australia’s Alexander Lawrence 12-2 in the second semi-final late on Sunday to set up a final clash against Algeria’s Fateh Benferdjallah.
Agiomor was unbeaten in all his bouts from the quarterfinal round where he had defeated Tunisia’s Maher Ghanmi 12-7. The finalists in all events are expected to qualify for Tokyo Olympic Games.
Soso Tamarau was however unlucky in the semifinal tie of the men’s 97kg as he lost to Algeria’s Mohamed Fardj 6-3 to miss one of the two tickets available in the weight category.
The trio of Emmanuel John (74kg) Amas Daniel (65kg)and Ebikewenimo Welson (57kg) could not make it to the last four as they beaten en route to the quarterfinal and qualifying round of the tournament.
On Saturday, the trio of Blessing Oborududu, Aminat Adeniyi and Adijat Idris picked their tickets to Tokyo Olympic Games.
Oborududu who competed in the women’s 68kg of freestyle was unbeaten to emerge as the overall champion in her weight category.
Despite losing one of her matches, Adeniyi finished second in the 62kg to pick her ticket to Tokyo while like Adeniyi, Idris finished second in the 50kg to also berth in Tokyo.
However, the fourth Nigerian Bose Samuel failed in her bid despite picking a bronze in the women’s 53kg as she failed to make it to the final where she supposed to get automatic ticket to the Olympic Games.
As it is four women will compete in the wrestling event for Nigeria at Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan as Odunayo Adekuoroye will join Oborududu, Adeniyi and Idris after the Commonwealth champion had in 2019 qualified after finish on the podium at the 2019 World Championship.
