The country’s top wrestlers are brimming with confidence following a ‘rewarding’ training camp in Oklahoma, United States, ahead of their campaign at the forthcoming World Wrestling Championships scheduled to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, later this year.

According to the Nigerian Wrestling Federation (NWF), the camp was sanctioned by the federation’s president, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, to enable the overseas-based athletes and home-based stars with visas to train with the best available facilities.

The NWF said that the training camp provided Nigerian wrestlers with valuable exposure and a competitive environment to sharpen their skills ahead of the global championship.

As part of the programme, the wrestlers had the opportunity to compete in dual meets against athletes from various NCAA Division I schools in the United States, giving the team a chance to test its strength against high-level opposition.

The camp was supervised by Nigeria’s Women’s Wrestling Head Coach, Akuh Purity, who guided the athletes through intensive training and competitive sessions.

“We continue to intensify our training and remain fully focused on improving our performance. Recently, we participated in an open camp in Oklahoma, where we had the opportunity to compete in duals against athletes from other Division 1 schools,” Purity said.

He described the exercise as a valuable experience that gave the team an excellent opportunity to assess where they currently stand, adding: “Following the open camp, we transitioned into a closed camp, where we are currently training.

We are using this period to specifically address and correct some of the mistakes and weaknesses I identified during the open camp and duals.”

The team is expected to continue fine-tuning their acts ahead of the World Championships, with the coaching crew focused on improving the athletes’ technical, tactical, and physical readiness for the competition in Astana.