BLESSING OBURUDU RETIRES ON A HIGH AT GATEWAY GAMES

BLESSING OBURUDU RETIRES ON A HIGH AT GATEWAY GAMES 

Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu who won a silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic ssys she is pathing ways with wrestling after 19 years on the mat.

The 14-time African champion broke the news after she won her final bout to clinch gold for Bayelsa in the ongoing National Sports Festival in Abeokuta.

 

XtrymeSports.blofspot.com reports that her emotional farewell speech triggered goose bumps across her, national teammates, officials, and wrestling stakeholders, while she was greeted with a pleasant and long standing ovation from of all present.

An emotional Blessing Oborududu in her farewell speech said "I want to thank everyone who has been part of my journey, the Nigeria Wrestling Federation led by Daniel Igali and the board members, my teammates, and family. 

"After the Olympics, I thought of retiring, but the President suggested I retire officially at the National Sports Festival in Abeokuta where I made my first appearance as a young wrestler back in 2006".

"I created a lot of memories, but my most memorable one was the Tokyo Olympics, which ignited hope across Africa because it was the first ever medal from an African woman in wrestling at the Olympics, and I hope more will come for our future wrestlers" Oborududu said. 

President Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Honourable Daniel Igali, in his remarks, described Oborududu as an exceptional and absolute professional beyond being an athlete, praising her for having an illustrious career.

"The type of Blessing is not easy to come by, and not easy to replace. I get questions like how are you going to replace Blessing, the thing is you can't replace Blessing, you might have another athlete, but not Blessing. 

"That's why I say bitter-sweet because the selfish part of you wants athlete like this to compete forever because for you is not just to have any athlete that does well, but one who has that mindset, discipline, pureness for the sport and most of these wrestlers you see stay with her in her house and she takes care of them as a duty. She is like a big sister to them, and that only for me is more than being a champion on the mat." Igali stated. 

Also, Hannah Reuben led the tribute of teammates, who stated her heartfelt admiration for Oborududu, acknowledging her dedication, achievements, and impact. She expressed gratitude to her years of service and being a great teammate and captain, and wishing her well in her future endeavours. 

Blessing Oborududu began her wrestling career at the 2006 National Sports Festival in Ogun state, and 19 years after, she has stepped on the mat for the last time as an athlete in the same state, and same hall, the Weekend Civic center, Obafemi Awolowo Square, in Ikenne, Ogun State.

Her first outing at the National Sports Festival in 2006 ended in defeat, but went on to dominate the national stage, winning gold at every edition of the festival,  which includes Kaduna 2009, Rivers 2011, Lagos 2012, Abuja 2018, Edo 2021, and Delta 2022.

She is a 12-time African champion and one of the continent’s most decorated wrestlers, and also an African Games champion, World Champion and Commonwealth Games champion.

Her crowning moment on the international stage was at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she became the first Nigerian African wrestler to win an Olympic medal in Wrestling.

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