Odunayo Adekuroye, Nigeria’s female freestyle wrestler won the bronze medal on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, in the 57kg Women’s Wrestling at the ongoing World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

Adekuoroye won her third place fight against Elvira Kamaloglu, defeating her Turkish opponent 9-5 to grab a bronze medal.

The result also means that the three-time Commonwealth Champion has qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris for the third consecutive time!

The 29-year-old has become the country’s first grappler to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris and would be looking to have a better outing than Rio in 2016.

She had suffered crucial defeats at the hands of Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson in the quarter-finals in Rio 2016.

She had also lost to Republic of Moldova’s Anastasia Nichita in Tokyo in 2020 on account of a fall when she returned to the Olympic mat.

Meanwhile, 12-time African champion and Tokyo 2020 silver medalist, Blessing Oborududu lost 7-1 to Vusala Parfianovich in the women’s 68kg quarter-finals, while Esther Kolawole also lost 7-1 to Grace Bullen of Norway, in the women’s 62kg quarter-finals.

However, Oborududu and Kolawole will have a chance to fight for their Olympic tickets on Thursday, September 21, 2023 in the repechage, if their vanquishers advance to the finals of their respective events.