Olympics: Adekuoroye Suffers Defeat, Agiomor Falls In Debut
Nigerian wrestler Odunayo Adekuoroye suffered a shock defeat in the Women’s Freestyle 57kg category against Mongolia’s Anastasia Nichita and will not compete for a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, while debutant Ekerekeme Agiomor fell to India’s Deepak Punia in the Men’s 86kg Freestyle event.
In a swift turn of events, with just a minute of fight time remaining, second seed Adekuoroye lost 8-2 via pinball to Nichita despite leading the bout 8-0 in the round of 16.
The African champion was in total control, suddenly, Nichita found a way to bring her down and pinned her till the referee declared it over. Adekuoroye’s hopes to compete for bronze through the repechage was dashed when Nichita lost 6-3 to Bulgaria’s Georgieva Nikolova in the quarter-finals.
In the Men’s 86kg Freestyle, things got worse for Team Nigeria on the mat as the only male wrestler, Ekerekeme Agiomor, lost 1-12 to Deepak Punia of India by technical superiority.
Agiomor, who was making his Olympics debut, didn’t stand a chance against the experienced Punia on the mat. The 3-time African championship medalist Agiomor gave his all, but couldn’t make it past the Indian.
Nigeria’s only chance to compete for another wrestling medal is on youngster Adijat Idris who will wrestle in the Women’s Freestyle 53kg tomorrow.
Nigeria occupies 65th position on the Tokyo Olympics medal table courtesy of the silver medal won by Blessing Oborududu and Ese Brume’s bronze from the long jump event.
Chidi Nwoke/Channels.
