Odunayo Adekuoroye Emerges As Best Female Wrestler At The 2019 African Wrestling Championships

Nigeria’s Odunayo Adekuoroye was on Sunday crowned the best female wrestler at the 2019 African Senior Wrestling Championships in Hammamet, Tunisia. Just last year, the 25-year-old made headlines for winning gold at the African Wrestling Championships in Port Harcourt.

The championships which are a qualifier for the World Championships in Kazakhstan in September began on Monday and ended on Sunday. Not only did Odunayo keep up with her impressive energy by defending her title, but she was also named the most outstanding female wrestler in the competition.

Nigeria had tem female wrestlers at the championships, but Adekuoroye outshined them all. The 2017 world silver medalist and back-to-back Commonwealth champion made light work of her Cameroonian opponent Esoombe Tiako. She won their 57kg final in just 29 seconds via pinfall to record her fifth African title.

On her way to the final, Adekuoroye overpowered Jeannette Sambou of Senegal 4-0 via pinfall, before taking out Chaimaa Aouissi of Algeria 12-0 via technical superiority to move into the semi-finals.

In the last four, she also recorded another superiority win, outclassing home favourite Dorssaf Gharssi 10-0.

The 25-year-old’s award crowned a great day for Team Nigeria who emerged overall winners of women’s wrestling at the championships with five gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

A delightful Adekuoroye later took to her twitter handle to express her joy at the victory.

“#2019ASWC. It could only be God! Thank you@NWF#TeamNigeria,’’

Other Nigerian women winners at the tournament are Hannah Reuben (72kg) and Aminat Adeniyi (62kg), with Rosemary Nweke (53kg) and Ifeoma Nwoye (59kg) accounting for the two bronze medals.