3rd February, 2012
Ahead of the summer 2012 Olympic Games in London, the Nigeria Wrestling Federation has assured that Nigerian wrestlers are capable of securing six tickets at the final qualifying tournament to be held in Morocco next month.
This was disclosed by Daniel Igali, the Technical Director of the federation, who said the wrestlers will start camping next week in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State to perfect their preparation.
“We have quite a number of national team wrestlers in Yenogoa. Our plan is to commence camping next week in Yenogoa. Right now we have 12 of them preparing for the Olympic qualifiers, which will hold in Morocco from 8 – 20 March,” Igali said.
He added that: “The plan is to have all the 21 athletes in the team. We normally have seven in freestyle, seven in female wrestling and seven in Greco Roman. So, all the athletes will be in camp to prepare very well for the qualifying tournament.”
Igali, who won wrestling gold medal for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, further informed that if everything works out well at the tournament, the aim of the federation is to smile back from Morocco with at least 6 tickets for the wrestling event of the 2012 London Olympics.
“Our aim is to go to Morocco and pick at least six tickets for the Olympics. In Nigeria, we have about six athletes at the national level that can compete with any of their counterparts in the world,” he said.
—Francis Achi/Abuja