August 03, (THEWILL) – Nigeria won its second medal but first silver on Tuesday as wrestling athlete in the 68kg freestyle event, Blessing Oborududu, took the silver as a beaten finalist against American wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who beat her 4-1 in the final to claim gold.
Oborududu had a strong showing at the Olympics and will be proud of her accomplishment. She defeated Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan 3-2 in qualifying for the semi-finals on Tuesday and did not rest on her oars.
In Tuesday’s semi-finals, she proved herself again as an Olympic champion of note with a 7-2 outclassing of Mongolia’s Soronzonboldyn Battsetseg.
By that, she gave Team Nigeria the assurance of a medal before Ese Brume leaped to a third place finish in Long Jump to claim the bronze medal and put Nigeria on the medals table.
Oborududu faced an American that had dominated the competition en route to a gold medal. Mensah-Stock first beat home favourite and defending gold medal winner in the event, Japan’s Sara Dosho 10-0 to show her mettle.
The native of Katy, Texas followed that with a win against China’s Zhou Feng 10-0. Then, Mensah-Stock took down Ukrainian wrestler Alla Cherkasova 10-4 in the semifinals to give her the chance at the gold before she bested Oborududu 4-1.
Yet, Oborududu improves on Nigeria’s medal place with her silver finish and gives Team Nigeria the hope for more in the final stretch of the Summer Games.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.