By Victor Kanayo
Nigerian Olympic silver medallist, Blessing Oborodudu, has decided to retire from wrestling.
Oborodudu, who spoke in Abeokuta, said the ongoing National Sports Festival (NSF) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, will be her last fight.
Oborodudu, a twelve-time African champion, competed in her first-ever tournament as a secondary school student at the Gateway Games in 2006.
Heritage Times HT reports that Oborodudu’s greatness began when she was invited to a national camp in 2007 to take part at the African Games after impressive performances at school inter-house wrestling competitions.
Although her parents were initially against her ambition to become a sport wrestler and advised that wrestling is allocated only for boys, her admiration for Canadian-Nigerian wrestler Daniel Igali, who was originally regarded as the first person from Nigeria to win an Olympic medal in wrestling, motivated her to delve into the sport.
After her defeat at Gateway 2006 as an amateur wrestler, Blessing has gone on to win gold in all her Festival participation precisely, Kaduna 2009, Rivers 2011, Lagos 2012, Abuja 2018, Edo 2021, and Delta 2022.
Her name resonates throughout Africa and beyond, evoking strong emotional responses from fans, Nigerian people, and well-wishers.
