By Solomon Nwoke, Port Harcourt

Team Nigeria yesterday hauled a total of Seven gold, two silver and five bronze medals in the Cadet, Greco-Roman and women freestyle wrestling at the on-going African Wrestling Championships which started Wednesday at the Alfred Diete-Spiff Civic Centre Sports Hall in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital. Six gold, a silver and three bronze medals came from the Cadet women freestyle while the Greco-Roman contributed one gold, one silver and two  bronze medals to account for the number so far.

Nigerian Wrestlers

Ukoro Peter handed Nigeria a surprise gold medal in the 55kg while Ntem Moses Ifiok got a silver in the 65kg just as Damiloloa Fayolemi  and Ikechukwu Robinson in the 60kg won a bronze apiece in the Greco-Roman event for cadet.

In the Cadet women freestyle, Yetunde Oluwatuyi got the first gold in the 40kg weight class, Christiana Ogunsanya made it two in the 46kg, Mercy Adekuoroye ( younger sister to the reigning World Silver medalist, Odunayo Adekuoroye) won the gold in the 53kg just as Esther Kolawole clinched the gold in the 61kg followed by Sunmisola Balogun in the 65kg and Cecilia James won the last gold in the 69kg.

Natasha Davids Essien won silver in the 76kg while Esther Asaolu in the 43kg, Aina Ohida in the 49kg and  Jumoke Adekoye in the 57kg contributed the cadet women freestyle bronze medals.

Reacting to his feat shortly after the medal presentation,Ukoro Peter, the youngster from Bauchi State who defeated Omar Adel Abdelazi of Egypt, 4-0 in final said: “I feel very glad and happy about it”.

“It was awesome but enjoyable because Greco-Roman is enjoyable to me. I feel very glad and by the grace of God, I know I can be the best.”

By virtue of their performance, the likes of Ukoro Peter, Yetunde Oluwatuyi, Mercy Adekuoroye,Esther Kolawole and Cecilia James have qualified for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina later in the year.

Speaking on the development, President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Dr. Daniel Igali said the athletes are on the verge of achieving the target set by the Federation.

“I think they did well, all the athletes wrestled with a lot of guts,” he said, adding, “We have four Olympic slots from the cadet girls. That’s unbelievable! “I remember the last time we were able to go with one girl to the (Youth) Olympics.

“We have set a target of achieving about 5 or 6 slots, and it looks like we are on course.”

Action continued yesterday with more cadet (freestyle men) and junior wrestlers taking to the mat. The competition ends on Sunday.