Commonwealth champion Blessing Oborududu on Monday made history to become the first Nigerian to succeed in the ultimate of a wrestling event at the Olympics, after recording a powerful 7-2 victory against 2012 bronze medallist Battsetseg Soronzonbold of Mongolia within the last four clashes.
The Nigeria Wrestling Federation confirmed this during a statement by its media officer, Emeka Dennar, on Monday.
The 10-time African champion Oborududu will face top seed Tamyra Stock Mensah in Tuesday’s final after the American World champion overpowered Ukraine’s Alla Cherkasova 10-4 within the first semi-final.
Obourududu made light work of Elis Manolova within the round of 16, thrashing the Azerbaijani 13-2 via technical superiority, before securing a hard-fought 3-2 win against Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan within the quarter-finals.
After a cagey opening moment in her semi-final bout against the 2015 World champion Soronzonbold, the energetic Oborududu burst into action, taking down the 31-year-old Mongolian thrice to eventually win the first round 7-0.
A late fightback saw Soronzonbold score two points, but Oborududu was never going to be denied an area in history as she ran out with a cushy 7-2 win.
The second seed Oborududu will renew her rivalry with old foe Mensah, as they battle for the last word prize – trophy, with the pair expected to tug it out on the mat around 11.15 am Nigerian time.
They last met at the 2019 World Championships in Kazakhstan, with the American getting the higher of Oborududu on her thanks to the title.
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