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Tag: NWF

  • NWF announces the death of former African Champion, Ilukwe

    NWF announces the death of former African Champion, Ilukwe

    The Nigeria Wrestling Federation has announced the death of one of its wrestlers, Patrick Ilukwe.

    The NWF in a press statement said it received the news of Ilukwe’s death with shock and prayed for the repose of his soul.

    “The NWF receive with shock the sad news of the passing of its wrestler Patrick Ilukwe who died on the 17th  August ,” the press statement said.

    “Until his demise, Mr Patrick Ilukwe was a graduate of Public Administration at Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Zaria. He was a national Greco-Roman Wrestling champion, and also an African Champion.”

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    In a condolence message, the NWF expressed its sympathy to Patrick Ilukwe’s family and the Delta State Government through the Delta Sports Commission, urging them to be strong in their grief due to the sad occurrence.

    The statement further said: “We at the Wrestling Federation sincerely extend our heart-felt condolence to the Ilukwe’s family, friends, colleagues and the entire Sports family in Delta state during this moment of grief.

    “He was an athlete with a unique character, a very humble and respectful athlete throughout his Wrestling Career.”

    “We pray that the good Lord strengthen his family, and everyone connected to him to bear this irreplaceable loss.”

  • Paris 2024: NWF boss charges  Lawal, Eze as lifters begin quest for medals

    Paris 2024: NWF boss charges  Lawal, Eze as lifters begin quest for medals

    Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF) President, Dr Ibrahim Abdul, has charged the Nigeria weightlifters participating at the ongoing 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, to compete firm and fair.

    Nigeria is represented in the Olympics Weightlifting event by two won lifters, Rafiatu Folashade Lawal who will be competing in 59kg class and Joy Ọgbonne Eze who is in 71kg category.

    Speaking in Abuja, Dr Abdul  said the federation  was doing everything possible to ensure that the athletes return home with medals , adding that the lifters have been in camp since April, two months before the ministry of sports took over the camping in June.

    The Weightlifting event at the Paris Olympics  begin  today with Nigeria’s debuting duo of Rafiatu Lawal (59kg) and Joy Eze (71kg) in action. 

    He expressed confidence on the lifters and urged Nigerians to support them with prayers for them to excel.

    “We are happy with what we have done so far as far as this Olympic Games is concerned. We have two athletes representing us, all of them are females. They withstood the rigour and pressure in the qualifying series to reach their first Olympic Games.

    “They have come a long way because now they are competing among the world bests. I told them on phone few days ago that they should fear no foe. Everybody is beatable. Today I reinforce that statement and urge them to compete firm and fair. We have done everything from our end to give them the necessary support including conducting doping test on them regularly while they camped.

    “I have no doubt that they will do our country proud. I urge Nigerians to support them with prayers. They are at the global stage and we hope they will deliver,” Dr Ibrahim Abdul said.

    The Nigeria lifters went to camp in Abuja shortly after arriving to the country from Accra, Ghana where they participated in the 13th  edition of Africa Games hosted by Ghana. Both Lawal and Eze won three  gold medals each in their respective classes.

    From Abuja, they flew into Germany where they had a week camping before they arrived France on 27 July for another closed camping. The athletes are currently in Paris.

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    NWF President provided more insights on the camping and commended the ministry of sports for their support.

    “They were camped in three places – Abuja, Germany and France. Shortly after their Africa Games where they both won 3 gold medals each, we opened camp for them in Abuja because we wanted them to remain in competitive mood.

    “When the government now took over, they went to Germany in continuation of their camping and later they flew to France. The France camping was organised by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). France camping was a kind of closed camp competition that allowed them to compete with others. It helped them to be in competitive spirit. It was from there that they arrived Paris and they are ready to be on stage when the weightlifting event starts on Wednesday.

    “Let me also use this medium to thank the Federal Government through the Minister of Sports for their support. Our athletes are good to go and they will make us proud,” he added.

    Lawal and Eze will be aiming to better Nigeria’s weightlifting performance at the Olympics where the federation have won two medals – a silver and a bronze in 2000 and 2008 Olympics.

    Ruth Ogbeifo won Nigeria’s first ever weightlifting medal in the year 2000 at Sydney, Australia, a silver medal in the 75kg while Mariam Usman, a four time African Champion bagged the second medal for Nigeria, a bronze medal in the +75kg at the 2008 Games in Beijing, China.

  • Adekuoroye ripe for Olympic gold, say coach Purity

    Female coach, Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Akuh Purity believes World Wrestling Championship silver medalist, Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg) has gathered enough experience to win gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.

    Adekuoroye, a two-time Commonwealth champion, claimed her 5th African title as Nigeria a total of 13 medals (6 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze) at the just concluded African Wrestling Championship held in Tunisia.

    Purity noted that the 25-year-old, who had earlier won gold at the Grand Prix of Germany in Dormagen and bronze at the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov ranking series tournament in Ruse, Bulgaria must be supported by the country in order to achieve her dream.

    “Odunayo is determined to be at the top and that really helps her. So we are very glad and happy because it was a very huge success for us especially for the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, winning the title back is a joy. Without even dropping a point for anyone was fantastic. She is quite obedient and listens to instruction. In the final, I told her that the Cameroonian (Esoombe Tiako) is going to come after her and that she should just keep calm, after the attack, she should counter-attack and that was exactly what she did and she defeated her opponent within 29 seconds.

    Read also: 2019 African Wrestling Championship: Adekuoroye, Oborududu lead 14 others to Tunisia

    “I can assure you Odunayo has gotten enough experience. Within the first quarter of the year, she won the Grand Prix of Germany, won bronze in Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov and now the best wrestler in African Championship.

    “We will be having our Olympic qualifier in September and I can assure you she is going to qualify for the World Championships and we are doing everything to put her in shape to qualify for the championship. She is matured enough now, she knows and we too will keep eye on her, trying to see that she does better and encourage her. We still want the government and good citizen of Nigeria to really encourage her too,” Purity said.

    While commending all the wrestlers for their performance in Tunisia, Purity said, “The athletes performed brilliantly we started the preparation early, we started immediately after the National Sports Festival and I can assure you both the male and female team listened to instructions. We told them to give their 100 percent and that was exactly what they did. So I am very happy.”

  • Tokyo 2020 Olympics must reflect in 2019 budget, says Igali

    President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Hon Daniel Igali says the budget for the preparation of athletes for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan must be included in the 2019 budget if the country hopes to have a good participation in the event.

    Igali said this in a chat with NationSport on Wednesday night on arrival from Tunisia, where Nigerian wrestlers participated at 2019 African Senior Wrestling Championships.

    “The issues of funds have almost become like a broken record, it is something that happens with, not just wrestling, but a lot of amateur sports and it has to do with budgeting. We must have proactive budgeting. We have the Olympics next year and we cannot have a budget that will be passed in June next year, the moment we do that, we are already prepared to fail at the Olympics.

    “The Olympic budget next year should be encapsulated in this year’s budget. The preparations; all the qualification tournaments, everything to ensure a successful outing in Japan and medal-worthy performances put up by the athletes, have to be achieved this year.

    “So if we don’t do that, we are going to continue to experience the same thing we have experienced. It was a tough one for us. But I must commend the Minister of Sports and the permanent secretary that played their roles to ensure that we had some tickets before we left. Also, friends and the Nigeria Wrestling Federation for running around to ensure that we are able to go and come back. Hopefully, we can start looking around to settle some of the debts now.”

    Team Nigeria won a total of 13 medals (6 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze) at the championships in Tunisia and Igali commended the wrestlers for making the country proud.

    “I think it was the doggedness of the athletes, the instructions from the coaches, the desire and fire in the athletes to represent their country and to represent it well. I’m really very proud of my athletes and coaches for this enormous feat that we achieved in Hammamet, Tunisia.

    “The Tunisians have a very good female team and they were poised to come first, especially on home soil. So, it was a battle and my athletes were really dogged and wanted it bad enough. In spite of the preparations we had, this Nigerian spirit is something else. They get somewhere and in the heat of the moment, they keep firing from all cylinders. I can’t be more proud than this and I want to give them all the kudos, they really did well,” Igali told NationSport.

  • NWF unveils Rio 2016 Team in grand Style

    NWF unveils Rio 2016 Team in grand Style

    …as Igali rallies support for the wrestling hopefuls

    NIGERIA Wrestling Federation (NWF) on Saturday unveiled its contingent to the Rio 2016 Olympic Team at the High Performance Hostel at the Package B of the Abuja National Stadium in grand style, even as its President, Hon. Daniel Igali demands for improved funding of the federation’s programme in order to produce world class wrestlers.
    The seven Olympic-bound wrestlers including five females: Mercy Genesis (48kg), Odunayo Adekuoroye (53kg), Aminat Adeniyi (58kg), Blessing Oborududu (63kg) and Hannah Reuben (69Kg) as well as two male; Amas Daniel (65kg) and Soso Tamarau (97kg) were presented decked in their formal wear and sporting attire.
    The impressive ceremony graced by former Olympians and erstwhile Team Nigeria captains, Mary Onyali Omagbemi and Bose Kaffo; NWF Board members including Dr. Bello Odunmola, Mr. Chris Amkpila (President of FCT Wrestling Association), representative of the Canadian High Commission in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Bundy and a host of others.
    Speaking at the event, Hon. Igali said the federation had left no stone unturned in preparation of its athletes despite obvious challenges amidst poor funding from government and lack of support from corporate Nigeria.
    “We had to do this formal unveiling of our team and respect our athletes because they are our hopes of winning medals at the Olympics,” stated Igali, a gold medal in the Men’s 69 kg freestyle wrestling for Canada at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. ” Frankly, I don’t like discussing about outcome and that is winning medals rather I’ll like to discuss the process leading to today’s event.
    “We felt it (missing out of the medals at London 2012) four years ago but we are not going to allow that to repeat itself and the NWF has started the process of preparing these athletes few years back despite funding challenges.
    “One thing we have requested from these wrestlers going to Rio, was to go and give more than hundred percent and they all know that they can’t leave the matter feeling they should have done better and they know that we have burnt thousands of hours because of this Olympics and it would be travesty if all the efforts, belief is betrayed,” he added.
    Igali, meanwhile, called on the sporting authorities as well as well-meaning Nigerians to rally behind the NWF and ensure that the seven athletes travel to Rio with the full compliments of their training partners, saying they need to perfect their preparation with at least 16 more days of training before the start of the wrestling competition on August 17.

  • WRESTLING OLYMPIC QUALIFIER: NWF to write IOC, UWW protest letters, as Turkish embassy denies Onyebuchi visa

    WRESTLING OLYMPIC QUALIFIER: NWF to write IOC, UWW protest letters, as Turkish embassy denies Onyebuchi visa

    Nigeria Wrestling Federation has revealed plans to write protest letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and United World Wrestling (UWW) following the refusal of the Turkish embassy in Abuja to grant visa to Blessing Onyebuchi who is to represent the country at the 2016 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament 2 scheduled to hold between 6–8 May 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey.

    Onyebuchi and head coach Nigeria Wrestling Federation ( NWF), Victor Kodei were earlier scheduled to depart the shores of the country on Wednesday night for the Istanbul event which is the final qualification tournament for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. But the duo were denied visa by the Turkish embassy despite all the efforts by the wrestling federation to provide funds for their trip.

    In ạ text sent to SportingLife on Thursday, NWF President, Hon Daniel Igali expressed frustration at the development, promising to inform IOC and UWW about the development.  He described it as a big setback for the federation after sourcing for the funds.

    “I am just leaving the Turkish Embassy in Abuja after two days of trying without success to get visas for Onyebuchi Blessing 75kg female wrestler and Coach Victor Kodei who were scheduled to attend the last Olympic Wrestling qualifying tournament in Istanbul from 6-8 May.

    “This has sadly brought to an end all the efforts of an athlete who worked so hard for an opportunity to attempt to qualify for the Olympics and become an Olympian for her country.

    “That Turkey of all countries can deny visas to Nigerian athletes after fulfilling all laid down protocols is humiliating. I will be sending a strongly worded protest letter to both the UWW and IOC regarding this Olympic disenfranchisement,” Igali said.

    Seven wrestlers have already secured slots for the Rio Games and the NWF had hoped to increase the numbers with Onyebuchi ‘s participation at the last Olympic qualification tournament in Turkey.

     

  • FILA BUREAU ELECTION: Igali to contest in absentia

    FILA BUREAU ELECTION: Igali to contest in absentia

    Canvases for vote

    The president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Daniel Igali has indicated his intension to go ahead and contest the upcoming International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) Bureau election scheduled to hold in Tashkent, Uzbekistani despite being denied entry into the host country.
    Igali who is vying to become an Executive Committee member of FILA in an election scheduled to hold on the 7th of September during the World Wrestling Championships informed SportingLife that despite the fact that he was disappointed at the development, he will still forge ahead with my candidacy, even in absentia.
    “I don’t know how I feel, disappointment, sadness and emptiness. While I do not completely begrudge the authorities for their actions, as a human being who feels victimized for no fault of my own, there is lack of inner peace,” the Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medalist told SportingLife.
    “But I am convinced that the cause of wrestling, the need to represent the interests of the commonwealth nations and the African nations at the bureau supersedes all the minor irritations I feel at this denial. I will still forge ahead with my candidacy, even in absentia.
    “I am prepared to take whatever comes out of the vote. I will, through my contacts, try and reach out to as many voting delegates even while here in Nigeria. The campaign slogan for this elections is: ‘SERVICE – To Wrestling, For Wrestling, and about Wrestling’. Through social media and every other medium, I will impress on the voting delegates that the time to be served at FILA needs to be reconsidered.
    “We need to start having conversations about giving grants to poor nations who cannot even afford to maintain their offices, who can’t afford to prosecute competitions and who cannot even afford to travel for competitions. We need to have discussions about the Olympic solidarity program, the training and development centers and the education of our athletes. Those are a few of the things I am passionate about.
    “In one year of my presidency of the Nigeria wrestling federation, we have built a modern office, had functional website and succeeded in having Wrestling as one of five core sports in Nigeria. The participation level of athletes in wrestling has Increased by more than 20%. By next year, we would have finished building a fully dedicated wrestling gymnasium the first in our history. We have done very well at the commonwealth Games, and for the first time in our history, are having endorsement arrangements for some athletes and sponsorship of the national team.
    “I stayed up late nights rehearsing with my colleagues in St. Petersburg and Buenos Aires last year to ensure that we gain our rightful place at the Olympics. We now have an even bigger battle, the battle to make wrestling a core sport at the Olympics. The battle to make wrestling a core sport at the commonwealth Games.
    “I remain convinced that I have the zeal and passion to continue to advocate and push for such improvements in our sport. I believe that the Commonwealth Nations and the African nations numbering over 60 countries need to have an elected representative in FILA who will serve the interests of wrestlers, referees, and technical officials rather than being served. That is what my candidacy is about and that is what I will continue to advocate.”

  • Commonwealth championship : Wrestlers ‘ll win medals, says Coach Akuh

    Commonwealth championship : Wrestlers ‘ll win medals, says Coach Akuh

    Coach Purity Akuh, an Assistant National coach, has predicted that wrestlers for this year’s Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in Johannesburg, South Africa would win laurels for the country. The championship has been scheduled to run from Dec. 5 to Dec. 8.

    Akuh told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Akure that the wrestlers, currently in the camp in Bayelsa, were prepared to shine in South Africa.

    He commended the president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Daniel Igali, for organising early camping for the wrestlers and providing them necessary equipment for the exercise.

    According to the coach, they have been in camp for three weeks now. Akuh added that the championship would be part of preparations for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

    “With the level of training during the camping, I believe the team will bring back medals from the championship. Our wrestlers are in good shape as they will be facing top opposition from the other Commonwealth nations”.

    The Ondo State wrestling coach noted that the team would be going with 13 wrestlers, comprising, six men and seven women. The coach added that the delegation would leave the country on Dec. 4.