Ondo State wrestling team dominated the Cadet category of the ongoing 3rd Governor Dickson Classics by winning 4 gold and two bronze medals at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, Yenegoa, Bayelsa State, SportingLife.ng reports.
The wrestlers who won gold for the state are Rebecca Popoola (36kg), Motunrayo Adeniyi (46kg), Princess Bankole (53kg) and Favour Bankole (61kg).
Edo State closely followed in the 2nd position with 3 gold and 1 bronze, while host, Bayelsa came 3rd with 2 gold, 5 silver, and 3 bronze medals.
A wrestling club side, Sports Academy came 4th with 1 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze, while Delta State came 5th with 1 gold and 1 bronze medal.
SportingLife.ng reports that athletes competed in three events at the Cadet Category: Greco-Roman (46kg, 48kg, 55kg, 65kg); Freestyle (46kg, 48kg, 55kg and 65kg) and Female Wrestling (36kg, 46kg, 53kg and 61kg.
Meanwhile, as actions continue on Thursday in the Senior Category, the President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali has warned states and club sides participating in the championship to desist from using wrestlers who are yet to be 18 years of age.
He said since the competition also serves as qualifiers for the Africa Games coming up in Morocco in August, any wrestler that was found out to be underage will not be allowed to represent the country at the African version of the Olympic Games.
“Any athlete that is competing at the Senior Category here and he or she are not up to 18, I will sanction the coach and those officials that are responsible for the weigh-in. I want to make that very clear. If you are not up to 18 this year, you can not compete in this competition.
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“For those in charge, before their weigh-in, they must come with evidence of when they were born, because we cannot go to the Africa Games with any athlete who is not up to 18 years and gets disqualified. This is our trial, we are going to organize another competition for Juniors and Cadets later this year,” Igali said while addressing the wrestlers and officials at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex on Wednesday.
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