Delta sweeps Greco Roman wrestling gold

By Solomon Nwoke
DELTA State wrestlers made a clean sweep of the Greco Roman wrestling event at the ongoing 18th National Sports Festival, tagged Eko 2012 as they won four out of the available seven  gold medals.

Delta’s Nnalue Dominic, Ituru Oke, Agiomor Ekerekem and Soso Tamara lifted the state with their gold medal haul in the 55kg, 66kg, 74kg and 96kg weight categories respectively.

Bayelsa state improved on their 17th edition record in the event by winning  two gold medals through Dickson Enenibodize in the 60kg weight class and Samuel Nathaniel in the 84kg weight class while Rivers clinched the last gold in the 120kg weight category.

The hosting state, Lagos could only win three silver medals through Adebanwo Segun in the 55kg weight class, Onduku Jonathan in the 66kg weight class and Philip Festus in the 96 kg class.

Reacting to the results, The Technical Adviser of the Nigeria Amateur Wrestling Federation, Dr Daniel |Igali  expressed concerned that the gold medals haul were not geographically spread.

He said, “ My concern is that the gold medals were not geographically spread, I really want to see wrestling spread a little bit more nationally. Plateau used to win  gold in the Greco Roman, Lagos state also used to win  at least a gold medal in the event.

But if you look at all the gold medals here, they are spread among Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers, the Niger delta states.

However, I must give Kudos to all the states that did well. I also look forward to seeing an interesting wrestling in the men’s freestyle

However, as at press time yesterday, the female wrestling was yet to be concluded while the Freestyle men event starts this morning.