Adekuoroye is Team Nigeria’s flag bearer at Tokyo 2020 Olympics

World number two in the women freestyle wrestling, Odunayo Adekuoroye, is set to lead Team Nigeria as the flag bearer to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan, which begins on July 23 and ends August 8.

Formerly ranked number one in her weight class, Adekuoroye secured qualification for the Olympics at the 2019 Senior World Wrestling Championships held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

According to a source, who pleaded anonymity, the sports ministry may have chosen the Commonwealth Games gold medalist for the task due to her recent sterling performances at various championships in preparation for the wrestling event at the Games.

Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, the Nigerian Wrestling Federation Caretaker Committee chairman, Daniel Igali, who denied knowledge of the sports ministry’s plan to make Adekuoroye the flag bearer at the Olympics, however, said the wrestlers were in top shape, training hard to make the podium at the Olympics.

“As you know, the wrestlers have been camped on and off this year since February in Bayelsa. For the past two months, they have been domiciled in Bayelsa.

“They will be travelling to Tokyo for a 12-day camping period before going to the games village on June 26. The wrestling event will hold from August 1 to 7,” he stated.

The Guardian recalls that at the 2018 Olympics Games in Russia, table tennis legend, Funke Oshonaike, was the country’s flag bearer.