Ten-time African champion, Blessing Oborududu made light work of Enas Ahmed of Egypt and Senegal’s Anta Sambou, winning 13-2 and 10-0 via technical superiority respectively, before sealing a place at her third Olympics with a 4-0 pinfall victory against Tunisian Khadija Jlassi.
Adeniyi, a 4-time African champion, recorded a 7-0 win against Amel Hammiche of Algeria, demolished Zineb Hassoune of Morocco 10-0 via technical superiority and overpowered Cameroon’s Berthe Ngolle 3-0. Despite going down to her rival Marwa Amri 3-1 in a keenly contested bout, Adeniyi secured her place in Tokyo alongside the Tunisian Olympic bronze-medalist.
Meanwhile, teenage sensation Idris impressed on her debut on the big stage with lots of eye-catching displays to book a place at the Olympics games with her first attempt.
The 19-year-old delivered two technical superiority wins against Egypt’s Nada Mohamed and Debora Ture of Guinea Bissau, scoring 11-0 and 15-4 respectively, before dismissing Ibtissem Doudou of Algeria in her third round-robin match.
And despite a 2-1 loss to homegirl Sarra Hamdi, Idris, who claimed gold at the Baraza Champion of Champions Wrestling tournament in Yenagoa in January, advance to her maiden Olympics alongside the Tunisian.
It could have been a perfect day for Team Nigeria in Hammamet, however, Bose Samuel was stopped in the quarter-finals of the 53kg category by her Cameroonian rival Joseph Essombe Tiako, who won 2-1 via pinfall. A bronze medal for the 2018 African champion was not good enough, as only the top 2 in each weight class qualify for the Olympics.
Oborududu, Adeniyi and Idris will thus join former World No.1 Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg) to the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games, which will run from 23 July to 8 August this year.
Adekuoroye already sealed her place at the Games by virtue of winning a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.
The competition comes to an end on Sunday, with the men taking to the mats in the freestyle events.
