Adekuoroye, Oborududu win gold medals at Islamic Solidarity Games

From left, Odunayo Adekuoroye and Blessing Oborududu

REIGNING African and Commonwealth champion, Odunayo Adekuoroye has won a gold medal for Nigeria at the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games which ended yesterday in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Adekuoroye in the 55kg women’s freestyle wrestling on Sunday night defeated Elena Tissina of Kazakhstan 10-0 in the final to win the second gold for Team Nigeria.

Earlier, seven-time African wrestling champion, Blessing Oborududu won the first gold for Nigeria when she defeated Hafize Sahih of Turkey in the women’s 63kg freestyle final.

Both wrestlers, it will be recalled, last month clinched gold medals in their respective categories at the 2017 Senior African Wrestling Championships in Marrakech, Morocco.

Team Nigeria had won their first medal {silver} at the Solidarity Games last Wednesday through Nathaniel Glory Onome who finished second in the women’s 400m hurdles.

Onome posted a time of 55.90 secs behind another Nigerian-born Adekoya Oluwakemi representing Bahrain, who finished in a time of 54.68 secs.

Interestingly, another Nigerian-born athlete, Jamal Aminat also representing Bahrain clinched the bronze with a time of 56.90 secs, her season’s best time.

Meanwhile, president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Dr Daniel Igali expressed joy at the exploits of the Nigerian flagbearers at the Solidarity Games, saying “congratulations to Team Nigeria.”