Oborududu, Onyebuchi crash out in Budapest

• Adekuoroye, Aminat take centre stage today

The hope of Team Nigeria returning home with a medal at the on-going Senior World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary, suffered a set back yesterday, as both Blessing Oborududu and Blessing Onyebuchi were eliminated. Onyebuchi was in control of her game against Estonia’s Epp Mae in the 76kg, leading13-8 points, only to be defeated through a pin-fall.

In the other fight, Oborududu, who narrowly missed a third place position at the 2017 championship, could not sustain her momentum, as she was wrestled down in 6-4 points by China’s Feng Zhou.

While commenting on the matches yesterday, the President of Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali told The Guardian that he was disappointed in the way the games turned out against the Nigerians despite giving their best.

“Blessing Oborodudu wrestled well against Zhou, and she could have taken the match to her opponent in the first three minutes, but she failed to do.

“Onyebuchi was a bit unlucky against the Estonia’s lady, but she later lost via a pin-fall despite leading 13 – 8 points. Her case was an unfortunate scenario,” he said.

In today’s fixtures, world silver medalist, Odunayo Adekuoroye, will try to restore the country’s pride at the championship, as she begins her quest for a medal in duel against Japan’s K. Sakagami, while Aminat Adeniyi will square up with another Japanese, Y. Kawai in today’s women’s freestyle wrestling contests.