Odunayo Adekuoroye
Olympian and bronze medalist at last year’s Senior World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada, Odunayo Adekuoroye, yesterday defeated Nina Menkenova to win gold medal at the Azerbaijan Golden Grand Prix.
Adekuoroye, who had a disappointing outing at the last Olympics in Rio, Brazil, subdued her Russian opponent 12-2 in the 63kg weight category.
Before her qualification for the final, Adekunoroye had defeated Tatyana Kit of Ukraine 10-0. She proceeded by overpowering Abdildina Aiyim of Kazakhstan 5-2.
Adekuoroye’s compatriot, Aminat Adeniyi, was not so lucky with her opponents by failing to advance to the next stage of the competition.
She suffered losses to Yuliya Anatoliyivna Tkach of Ukraine and Sastin Mariana of Hungary 0-4, 3-6 respectively.An elated President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali, in a chat with The Guardian yesterday, described the victory achieved by Adekuoroye as exceptional.
“Adekuoroye’s performance yesterday in far away Azerbaijan was outstanding. She was the best among the athletes in her weight category. This gladdens my heart and I am happy for her.“In the case of Adeniyi, unfortunately, she could not make it to the next round after the losses she suffered in the earlier round,” he said.
