By Solomon Nwoke

President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Dr Daniel Igali is still pained that his wrestlers were not able to participate at the recently held World Wrestling Championship in Budapest  owing  to visa hitches.

Dr Igali was particularly hurt by the fact countries like Congo, Guinea Bisau, Senegal, Cameroun and many others participated while Nigeria couldn’t  not because of  lack of funds, but because of  visa problem.

Nigeria had planned to feature three wrestlers; Ifeoma Iheanacho (67kg), Blessing Oborodudu (63kg) and Odunayo Adefioye (51kg) in preparation for the 2016 Olympics and  the wrestling boss vowed top get to the root of the matter..

“We planed to go with three wrestlers, Ifeoma Iheanacho (67kg), Blessing Oborodudu (63kg) and Odunayo Adefioye (51kg) but we did not get visas. We did apply over two weeks before the tournament and we did not get visas. This is something I must get to the root of, because while in Budapest I saw Congo, Guinea Bisau, Senegal, Cameroun and others. So  why should Nigeria not get visas to be at the World championships. It really makes me feel bad since I am now the President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation .

“Why it also bothers me is because when people ask what  my regret in sports is, I tell them that one of my saddest moments was in 1992 when I was supposed to go for  an Olympic qualifier  but was dropped because there was no money.”

In this case, we even have funds to go but there was no visa. So I can appreciate and understand how the athletes feel.