The Nigeria Wrestling Federation Caretaker President, Daniel Igali has described Odunayo Adekuruoye’s loss in the women’s 57kg freestyle wrestling as “workplace accident” that can happened to anybody.
The defeat was a rude shock to millions of Nigerians across the globe as well as world wrestling followers as she was the top favorite to pick up gold in the event. What was even more shocking was how she has an 8-2 point lead before going on to lose and the athlete has been physically and mentally down according to reports from Tokyo.
Igal said “We all had very high hopes for Adekuoroye to win medal at this Olympics. We prepared very well. Of the 16 athletes here, Adekuoroye had wrestled against about 9 of them. This is the third time she was wrestling against the Moldovan. She had destroyed her 10-0 in each of the last two contests. Within two minutes of the match this morning, Adekuoroye had already built up a healthy lead.
“She wrestled cautiously and tactically. Was winning 8-0 and on the verge of getting the last two points to win the match by superiority before she was reversed and pinned. It was a ‘workplace accident’ to say the least,” Ighali lamented.
“Understandably she is inconsolable. She feels she has disappointed a whole nation. We feel her pains. We are equally pained because over 80 percent of wrestling enthusiasts had her as the odds on favorite to pluck gold here in Tokyo. But God’s ways are not our ways”, Igali said .
