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Her bronze win in the 48kg category was an eye-opener to the fact that the future would be bright for the freestyle wrestler. Four years later, she would go on to win her first Commonwealth gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games after beating India’s Sehrawat Lajita in the women’s freestyle 53 kg category final. Adekuoroye would repeat a similar feat in the 2018 edition of the Commonwealth Games after defeating another Indian, Pooja Dhanda, in the final of the women’s freestyle 57kg weight class. Adekuoroye who first caught the eye of wrestling enthusiasts in Nigeria during the 15th National Sports Festival in Ogun State after grabbing gold in the cadet category has never looked back in her bid to fly Nigeria’s flag high at the global front.
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Her bronze win in the 2015 World Wrestling Championships after grabbing gold at the Commonwealth in 2014, was a great signal of more laurels to come. Her career highs also include winning silver at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships, a significant push from her bronze win two years earlier. Adekuoroye was ranked World’s number one female wrestler for the 55kg category by the United World Wrestling (UWW) in 2017. In October 2019, she was ranked the world’s number 2 in the women’s 57kg category by the UWW. On the African stage, Adekuruoye in 29 seconds defeated Cameroon’s EssoneTiako to win the Women freestyle event at the 2019 African Wrestling Championships in Hammamat, Tunisia. She would also be named the best Female Wrestler of the tournament. At the 2020 edition of the African Wrestling Championships, Adekuoroye won gold in the women’s freestyle 57kg event. Other laurels Adekuoroye has won include gold at the 2016 Golden Grand Prix in Azerbaijan (55kg), gold (57kg) at the 2019 German Grand Prix Championship, bronze (57kg) at the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov ranking series in Ruse, Bulgaria, 2019, and gold (57kg) at the Yasar Dogu Ranking series event in Istanbul, Turkey, 2019. So far in 2021, Adekuruoye has won gold in the Baraza Champion of Champions wrestling tournament, in Yeanagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Odunayo Adekuoroye alongside six others were inducted into the Nigeria Wrestling Federation’s Champions Club in March 2020. Sources: Guardian NG Complete Sports NG Featured Image Source: Brila
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