African champions, Blessing Onyebuchi of Edo and Sunmisola Balogun of Ondo won gold medals for their respective states at the women’s wrestling event at the ongoing 3rd Governor Dickson National Wrestling Classics holding at the Indoor Hall of the Samson Siasia Sports Complex in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State, Sportinglife.ng reports.
Onyebuchi, a Commonwealth bronze medalist, successfully defended her national title by defeating Roda Shode of Nigeria Army by Technical superiority in the final of the 76kg. Ogu Juliet of Bayelsa won the bronze medal in the category.
On the other hand, Balogun defeated Deyei Teimene of Bayelsa State 6-1 in the 72kg in the to win gold in the 72kg Women’s Wrestling round-robin event.
Balogun, who moved up from her normal 65kg class to compete at the 72kg, had earlier defeated another African champion, Winnie Gofit of Nigeria Army in a clash of titans.
In the 77kg Greco-Roman, Tochukwu Okeke of the Nigeria Army defeated Samuel Isamah of Lagos State to claim the gold medal. Agbonifo Ehinchie of Edo won the bronze medal.
In the 72kg Greco-Roman, Nworie Emmanuel of Delta won the gold medal, while Ismail Samuel of Bayelsa settled for the silver and Benedict Olayemi of Lagos won the bronze medal.
Samson Clarkson of Bayelsa defeated Arasata Ziweretim of Delta State 5-1 in the final of the 70kg men’s freestyle to claim the gold medal. Saliu Rasheed of Ondo won the bronze medal.
In the final of the 55kg Women’s Wrestling, Blessing Uteh of Monroye Club defeated Isioma Aboje of Delta to win the gold medal. Amakuro Juliet of Bayelsa won the bronze medal.
To this end, Onyebuchi, Balogun, Okeke, Clarkson, Nworie, and Uteh have secured their place at the Africa Games, scheduled to hold in Morocco in August.