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Wrestling: Adekuoroye, two others for Germany, Bulgaria tournaments

Commonwealth gold medalists – Odunayo Adekuoroye, Aminat Adeniyi and Blessing Oborududu will be competing at two United World Wrestling (UWW)-ranking tournaments in Germany and Bulgaria in February as part of their efforts to garner world rating points for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

odunayo

However, Adekuoroye, a regular face at the Indian Super League will not be in action in the lucrative tournament this year as the African champion has decided to compete in a world ranking event compared to the juicy league which has no world rating.

Also, there are indications that the wrestlers’ participation in the Germany and Bulgaria tournaments may be threatened by paucity of funds as they are appealing for the support from government and corporate bodies.

According to Coach Purity Akuh, the athletes are warming up to compete in the Germany and Bulgaria ranking championships with the sole aim of garnering points for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“We have decided to forfeit our participation in the Indian Super League because we realized that India is our major opponent in the world and for us competing in the league, we will surely expose ourselves to them. We believe money is not everything as the athletes are also thinking of making it big at the Olympic Games which is the highest for any athlete in the world. Attending world ranking events will surely rub off on their fortunes globally and that was what affected their rating this year because none of them took part in any ranking event in 2018 aside the continental and world championships. This year we have decided to task ourselves and ensure that they compete in ranking events,” Akuh said.

Read Also: 2019 Wrestling Ranking: What Adekuoroye, others should do for points

The 2017 Coach of the Year at the annual Nigeria Sports Award is also appealing to government and well-meaning individuals to back the athletes in their quest to qualify for the Olympic Games in 2020 as well as make it to the podium in Japan.

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