Team Nigeria won a total of 11 medals comprising four gold, three silver and four bronze to register another impressive outing at at African Championships held over the weekend in El Jadida, Morocco.
On thr final day of the two-day event, Nigeria added a silver and two bronze medals in the Freestyle (FS) events on the final day of the tournament to increase the total haul to 11 with all wrestlers paraded by the country having a medal each.
The team will return to the country through Lagos on Tuesday by 6:30am aboard Turkish airline.
Wrestling in the 57kg FS, Commonwealth silver-medallist Ebikewenimo Welson won silver, while African champions Ogbonna John (74kg) and Ekerekeme Agiomor (86kg) both settled for bronze medals.
After securing quarter and semi-final wins against Congo DR’s Rabby Kilandi (12-1 via fall) and Diamantino Iuna Fafe of Guinea-Bissau (2-1), Welson lost 5-0 to Gamal Mohamed of Egypt in the final.
On his part, John, who had won four straight African titles hitherto failed to make it five in a row, after he was stopped in the semi-finals by Egyptian Amr Hussen via a fall victory. He however won bronze by overcoming Brian Oloo of Kenya 10-0 via superiority in the 74kg class.
Similarly, Tokyo 2020 Olympian Agiomor (86kg) also claimed bronze after beating Tunisian Sabri Mnasria 9-0.
After receiving a bye in the qualification round, the 2018 African champion defeated Guma Bashir of Sudan 10-0 via pinfall in the quarter-finals before narrowly going down 3-2 to Egyptian Mahmoud Badawi in the last 4.
On the penultimate day of the competition, Team Nigeria claimed 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in the Women Wrestling events.
Nigeria’s performance at the 2022 African Championships:
Women Wrestling
Mercy Adekuoroye (53kg) – Gold
Jumoke Adekoye (55kg) – Gold
Odunayo Adekuoroye (59kg) – Gold
Blessing Oborududu (68kg) – Gold
Patience Opuene (62kg) – Silver
Hannah Reuben (76kg) – Silver
Sunmisola Balogun (65kg) – Bronze
Ebi Biogos (72kg) – Bronze
Freestyle
Ebikwenimo Welson (57kg) – Silver
Ogbonna John (74kg) – Bronze
Ekerekeme Agiomor (86kg) – bronze
