African wrestling champion, Odunayo Adekuoroye says the COVID-19 pandemic has caused her to miss fighting.
In an interview with Channels Television, the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist who has already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics confirmed the disruption has affected her training programme “I was looking forward to the Olympics. From the day I qualified, I started preparing with my coach. This pandemic has made things slow because there is little I can do from you.’’ According to Adekuoroye, the work-out she does at home cannot be compared with what she can achieve if she trains at the stadium with the right facilities, her coach and sparring partners. ‘’Wrestling is a combat sport so you need the equipment to get you ready and you also need your teammates for sparring. Everyone is at home so it is difficult to achieve a complete training programme.’’ On the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to next year, the freestyle wrestler says it doesn’t change her ambition of winning a medal at the games. ‘’Oh, I’m 100 percent ready for the games. My ambition of finishing on the podium is still intact and competing in Tokyo will give me an opportunity to prove a point that what I have achieved so far is not a fluke.’’ The International Olympic Committee has announced that the Olympic 2020 will now be celebrated from July 23 to August 8, 2021. They also agreed on new dates for the Paralympic Games, which will be celebrated from August 24 until September 5, 2021. The Nigerian champion is ranked number one in the world in the 57kg category, she understands staying at the top requires a lot of hard work and affirmed she is under no pressure to compete with other top wrestlers in the world.
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