President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Daniel Igali, has promised to sponsor a developmental competition, tagged the Daniel Igali South-South Cadet/Junior Championships, in 2020.
Igali, who made this promise during the final board meeting of the NWF in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said the competition was aimed at unearthing young talents below 17 years in the South-South region of the country.
“I will be sponsoring a competition for cadets and youths in the South-South in May,” Igali, a and Olympic wrestling champion, told the board of the NWF.“This tournament will give the younger athletes a platform to showcase their talent and also expose them to competition early.“We also hope to discover talents who will go ahead to replace the aging ones in future during this competition.”
Meanwhile, the NWF yesterday rolled out its plans for the 2020 as it intends to undertake.The programme released at the end of the board meeting in Yenagoa, comprises both local and international competitions intended to keep the athletes busy throughout the calendar year as they vie for honours and also seek qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The release stated that its activities will start with the registration and licensing of the wrestlers by their respective state associations and wrestling clubs on January 1 and subsequent affiliation of the states/clubs to the governing body, NWF.
That the local camping for the wrestlers will start a day after on January 2, while Nigeria will take part in her first tournament of the New Year – the Matteo Pellicone Senior Ranking Series – from January 15th to 18th in Rome, Italy, which will be followed by the National Olympic trials in Yenagoa/Abuja from January 27th to 31st.
