Nigerian wrestlers, Adekuoroye, Oborududu rise in world rankings

Commonwealth champion, Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg) has moved one step up in the latest rankings, and is now the second-best wrestler in the world in her weight class, while nine-time African champion, Blessing Oborududu, climbed to number four in the 68kg category.

In the latest rankings released by the United World Wrestling, Adekouroye, who won a bronze medal at last month’s World Championships in Kazakhstan, is now second with 73 points, three points behind 2018 world champion, Ningning Rong of China, while Norwegian Grace Bullen is placed third with 66 points.

Oborududu, a Commonwealth gold medalist herself, is in fourth place with 48pts, behind top-rated Swede, Anna Fransson (56pts), Alla Cherkasova (52pts) of Ukraine and Battsetseg Soronzonbold (51pts) of Mongolia.

Nigeria’s duo of Blessing Onyebuchi (76kg) and Mercy Genesis (50kg), who are currently in Doha, Qatar for the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games, are ranked 15th and 18th respectively, while Commonwealth champion, Aminat Adeniyi (62kg) is rated 20th in the world.

African champion, Sunmisola Balogun is also ranked 12th in the 65kg class with 18 points.

In the men’s freestyle category, Emmanuel Ogbonna John is placed 14th in the 74kg weight class with 18 points. The 3-time African champion is the only Nigerian male wrestler in the top 20 across the 10 weight classes.

No Nigerian made it to the top 20 in the Greco Roman style.