Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF) president, Honourable Daniel Igali has advocated better funding from the federal government, in order to accord the country’s grapplers opportunities of mixing with the world’s best and compete in major leagues across the globe.
Igali stated as much Thursday morning on a radio sports programme, during which he noted that only Odunayo Adekuoroye is rated in one of the world’s top leagues, but says Nigerian needs to have more of such.
He pointed out that the most prominent wrestling leagues in the world are in Germany and India, but lamented that Nigeria has now come any way near having a plethora of the country’s best grapplers listed therein.
The former Olympic Games gold medalist, while competing under the flag of Canada, added that only top two finishers on the podium of the global sports fiesta have the privilege of being listed in the leagues.
Igali added: “As we speak, the big two wrestling leagues in the world are in Germany and Idnia, but our wrestlers are no way near there.
“To get into the pro-league’s of wrestling, you have to be either a gold medalist or silver medalist, because only the best two are selected.
“The way it is, only Odunayo Adekuoroye is in the pro-league, but we need to get more at that level.
“That does not depend only on the wrestlers. Yes, they need to keep training and competing, but the biggest obstacle for them is funding.”
