Odunayo Adekuoroye

Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye (born 10 December 1993) is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler.[1] She competed in the women's freestyle 53 kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games[2] where she won a gold medal[3] and at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships where she won a bronze medal.[4][5] She won the silver medal at the women's freestyle 55 kilograms 2017 World Wrestling Championships.[6]

Odunayo Adekuoroye
Personal information
Full nameOdunayo Folasade Adekuoroye
Nickname(s)Pantera dancer
NationalityNigerian
Born (1993-12-10) 10 December 1993
Ilutitun, Ondo State, Nigeria
Weight51 kg (112 lb)
Sport
CountryNigeria
SportWrestling
Event(s)Women's 53 kg
Medal record
Women's freestyle wrestling
Representing  Nigeria
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2017 Paris55 kg
Bronze medal – third place2015 Las Vegas53 kg
Bronze medal – third place2019 Nur-Sultan57 kg
Bronze medal – third place2023 Belgrade57 kg
African Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 El Jadida 59 kg
Islamic Solidarity Games
Gold medal – first place2021 Konya59 kg
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place2014 Glasgow53 kg
Gold medal – first place2018 Gold Coast57 kg
Gold medal – first place2022 Birmingham57 kg
Bronze medal – third place2010 Delhi48 kg

First fight

Adekuoroye participated in Nigeria's 15th National Sport Festival held in Ogun State, where she won the gold medal in the cadet category.[7] In March 2019, Adekuoroye was ranked 4th in the Women's 57 kg wrestling class by United World Wrestling.[8]

Commonwealth experience

She participated in Commonwealth Tournament for the first time in 2010, representing Team Nigeria in India. She won the bronze medal in the 48 kg category at the age of 17 years.

In 2014 she defeated Indian Sehrawat Lalita in the final of the women's freestyle 53 kg category to win her first Commonwealth game gold medal.[9]

In 2018, Adekuoroye participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, winning her second Commonwealth gold medal in the Women's Freestyle 57 kg weight class defeating Pooja Dhanda of India in the final.[10]

Adekuoroye won a third Commonwealth Games gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, defeating India's Anshu Malik in the final.

Career

Adekuoroye picked up a gold medal in 2016 by defeating Russia's Nina Menkenova in the final for 55 kg women's freestyle at the 2016 Golden Grand Prix in Azerbaijan, adding to the bronze medal she won in 2015 at the World Wrestling Championship in Las Vegas.[11][12]

In 2017, Odunayo Adekuoroye was ranked number one by the United World Wrestling (UWW) at women's freestyle 55 kg category,[13] and went onto win silver medal in 55 kg category after losing narrowly to Japan's Haruna Okuno in the final of 2017 World Wrestling Championship, held in Paris, France.[14]

Odunayo Adekuoroye competed and won gold at the 2019 German Grand Prix Championship. The tournament that was held in Dormagen saw Adekuoroye win the 57 kg weight class of Women's freestyle without losing a point throughout the tournament, just as she defeated Hungarian Anna Szell in the final by 10–0.[15] After which she clinched a bronze medal in the 57 kg class at the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov ranking series tournament in Ruse, Bulgaria, 2019.[16]

Following her outing at the German Grand Prix and Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov ranking series tournament in Ruse, Bulgaria,  Adekuoroye participated in the 2019 African Wrestling Championships, Hammamat, Tunisia, defeating Cameroon's EssoneTiako in 29 seconds in the final of Women freestyle event. She was named the best Female Wrestler of the tournament.[17] In July 2019, she defeated Tetyana Kit of Ukraine 10–0 in the final to win gold in the 57 kg category at Yasar Dogu Ranking series event in Istanbul, Turkey.[18]

In 2020, she won the gold medal in the women's freestyle 57 kg event at the 2020 African Wrestling Championships.[19][20] In 2021, she won a gold medal at the Baraza Champion of Champions wrestling tournament held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.[21] In June 2021, she won the gold medal in her event at the 2021 Poland Open held in Warsaw, Poland.[22][23]

She represented Nigeria at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She competed in the women's 57 kg event, where she was eliminated in her first match by Anastasia Nichita of Moldova.[24][25]

In 2022, she won one of the bronze medals in her event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 held in Rome, Italy.[26] She won the gold medal in the 59 kg event at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games held in Konya, Turkey.[27]

Rio 2016 Olympic experience

In the 2016 Olympics, she was defeated by Sweden's Sofia Mattsson in the quarter-final.[28]

References
  1. "Glasgow 2014 profile". Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  2. "Commonwealth Games: Adekuoroye, Adeniyi win wrestling gold". 360 nobs website. 31 July 2014.
  3. Foley, Tim (30 July 2014). "Nigeria impresses on second day of wrestling at Commonwealth Games". United World Wrestling. Switzerland. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  4. "2015 World Weightlifting Championships Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 May 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  5. Omaku, Cephas (10 September 2015). "Wrestling: Adekuoroye Wins World Championships Bronze, Advances to Rio Games". Information Nigeria website. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  6. Tunde Eludini (23 August 2017). "Wrestling: Nigeria's Adekuoroye wins silver at World Championship". Premium Times.
  7. "15th National Sport Festival Begins in Ogun State". allafrica.com.
  8. "Wrestling: Odunayo Adekuoroye number 4 in the World". ACLSports. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  9. "Dancing wrestlers celebrate in style". BBC. 1 January 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  10. "Commonwealth Games: Team Nigeria wrestlers win gold". Vanguard News. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  11. Olus, Yemi (26 August 2017). "Adekuoroye becomes first Nigerian wrestler to win World Championships Silver medal". MAKING OF CHAMPIONS. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  12. "Golden Grand Prix Final | United World Wrestling". unitedworldwrestling.org. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  13. "Odunayo Adekuoroye Is World No. 1 Female Wrestler - 55 kg [2017]". PositiveNaija. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  14. Brila (24 August 2017). "World Championships: Odunayo Adekuoroye wins Africa's first ever Silver medal". Latest Sports News In Nigeria. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  15. "German Grand Prix: it is gold for Adekuoroye". ACLSports. 24 February 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  16. "Adekuoroye clinches Bronze medal in Bulgaria Ranking Event". ACLSports. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  17. "Adekuoroye best wrestler at African championships". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  18. "Ranking Series: Adekuoroye wins gold, Oborududu bags bronze". The Nation Newspaper. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  19. Olanowski, Eric (8 February 2020). "Adekuoroye Climbs to World No. 1 After Winning Fifth African Title". United World Wrestling. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  20. "2020 African Wrestling Championships Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  21. Ifetoye, Samuel (18 January 2021). "Adekuoroye, Ogbonna, others shine". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  22. Rowbottom, Mike (11 June 2021). "Adekuoroye scatters Rio 2016 medallists en route to gold at UWW Poland Open". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  23. "2021 Poland Open Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  24. "Tokyo Olympics: Uganda's Peruth Chemutai wins gold as Kenya dominate men's 800m". BBC Sport. 4 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  25. "Wrestling Results Book" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  26. "Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  27. "2021 Islamic Solidarity Games Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  28. "Rio 2016 Olympics: 3 Nigerian women wrestlers crash out – Sports". Tribune Online. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
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