The Nigeria Wrestling Federation has concluded all arrangements to hold its National Championship in Port Harcourt from November 23 to November 30, the federation’s Secretary-General, Ahmed Abdullahi, said on Friday.
Abdullahi told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that the championship would be used to select wrestlers for the 2018 African Wrestling Championship also holding in Port Harcourt.
He added that the National Wrestling Championship would be used to select athletes in both the cadet, junior and senior categories.
He said: “Nigeria is to be represented by 90 athletes at the forthcoming African championship, 30 athletes in each of the three categories.
“We want to make this national championship to be an avenue for the preparation of the African Wrestling Championship slated to hold from February 7 to February 11 in Port Harcourt.”
He also said that in January 2018, the federation would implement the new weight category as introduced by the United World Wrestling Federation.
According to the NWF secretary-general, all states are expected to participate in the national championship so as to prepare adequately for the 2018 African championship.
NAN reports that Nigeria won the bid to host the 2018 African Wrestling Championship in August at a meeting in Paris, organised by the UWWF.
Nigeria defeated Tunisia to secure the hosting rights for the tournament.
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