Daniel Igali, the President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) and Olympic gold medallist, has praised Blessing Oborududu, on her defeat in the third-place bout at Paris Olympics.
The world number 6 was defeated in the bronze medal bout by her Japanese counterpart, Nonoka Ozaki 0-3 on Tuesday at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris, losing without scoring any point in the bout.
Nonoka scored two points in the first period and added the other one in the second period to end all hopes of Team Nigeria’s first medal at the Games.
According to Igali, the federation has a lot of work to do to replace her.
“She did her best. She has really represented Nigeria very well; she has been an exemplary athlete.
“Four Olympic appearances. Olympic silver medallist. 14-time African champion, three-time Africa games champion, two-time commonwealth games champion.
“We have quite a lot of work to do to replace her. I doff my hat for Blessing Oborududu, ” Igali told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Paris on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old had lost to Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan 1-3 in the semi-final match on Monday.
Oborududu defeated Larroque Koumba of France 6-2 to qualify for the quarter- final on Monday.
She also defeated her Canadian opponent, Linda Morais 8-2 in the preliminary rounds. (NAN)
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