‘Many countries now want to train their wrestlers in Nigeria’

Igali (right) with one of Nigeria’s brightest prospects for a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Odunayo Adekuoroye

Daniel Igali is one of the best known faces in international amateur wrestling. The retired wrestler, who won a gold medal for Canada at the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia, has been President of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation (NWF) for the past 11 years. He has taken the sport from its crawling state to a level that Nigeria is now rated as one of the world’s best nations in the sport.

Igali will leave office next year when his third tenure expires, but the Bayelsa State sports commissioner, rather than clinging to power, is elated that the sport is in a good state and has capable hands willing to continue from where he will stop.

Reflecting on his tenure as NWF president, the Olympian, who was in Lagos last week, said the federation has performed beyond the resources available to it, adding, however, that he is sad he has not been able to achieve some of his targets.

He said: “We have qualified six of our athletes for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They include one male and five female wrestlers. Last year, Odunayo Adekuoroye qualified for the Olympics by virtue of winning a bronze medal at the World Championships. For the record, that was the only medal of any sport Nigeria won at all the 2023 world championships.

“At the Oceania/Africa Olympics qualifier, we were able to qualify four girls and one male, Ashton Mutuwa. Unfortunately, Mercy Genesis, who, in my view, is a dark horse for a medal at the Olympics, did not qualify. She was leading with nine seconds to go when she got confused and didn’t know that they had blown the whistle. In that state, her opponent went behind her to beat her. She protested