Esther Kolawole and Christianah Ogunsanya will represent Nigeria in the women’s freestyle event at the 2024 Zagreb Open in Croatia, www.aclsports.com has gathered.
The 2024 Zagreb Open is the first Ranking Series Event of United World Wrestling (UWW) in 2024 and will be held from 10th to 14th January.
The head coach of Nigeria Senior Women’s Team, Purity Akuh told www.aclsports.com that the wrestlers are physically and mentally fit for the Grand Prix.
He said the Grand Prix will help the wrestlers prepare for the challenges ahead including the Olympic Qualifiers.
Akuh said, “The wrestlers are in a good state of mind, this is the beginning of a new season and they are excited to start the season with the first Ranking Series Event of United World Wrestling (UWW) in Croatia.
“The Ranking Series will help prepare the girls for the Olympic Games qualifiers because they are wrestling some of the best wrestlers in the world. If they can perform well in Croatia, then I do not think any wrestler will be able to stop them at the African/Oceanic Qualifiers.
“I believe that young wrestlers can make a huge statement; all they need is to be exposed to international tournaments and that is the reason the federation brought them here”.
The much travelled coach said his target at the 13th African Games in Ghana is to win all the available gold medals in the weight classes.
He said, “My target by the Grace of God at the forthcoming African games is to win gold medals in every category we will feature in.”
