Daniel Igali is one of the best known faces in international amateur wrestling. The retired wrestler, who won a gold medal for Canada at the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia, has been President of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation (NWF) for the past 11 years.
Daniel Igali is one of the best known faces in international amateur wrestling. The retired wrestler, who won a gold medal for Canada at the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia, has been President of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation for the past 11 years.
Reflecting on his tenure as NWF president, the Olympian, who was in Lagos last week, said the federation has performed beyond the resources available to it, adding, however, that he is sad he has not been able to achieve some of his targets. Igali said it is important the NWF finds a credible successor to him next year, adding that a good leader will find it easy to take the sport to higher heights.
“We have won silver medals and bronze, but you know, an Olympic gold medal is completely different from every other medal. Canada had never won a gold medal until I came around in 2000. And in male wrestling, none of their male athletes have been able to wrestle for a silver medal. The competition is tougher than it was in the 1990s.”
“If we had enough funding, we would have been thinking of them as world champions and Olympic gold medalists by now. If I had any regret, that is about the only regret I have, that the funding expectations did not meet our ambitions in wrestling. “Wrestling has six national teams and if you want to succeed, the cadet teams must go to African, world and other championships because they are the ones you are preparing to take over from the senior teams.
Igali said poor funding is also hampering other sports’ development, declaring that the country’s sports federations must have budgets like such other countries as Australia, Britain, Egypt and the United States. “But take a poor country like Cuba, as an example; they don’t have money but there is no Olympics they fail to win at least three gold medals. This is because they have a system that utilises physical education in schools to produce rounded athletes.
“Last year, only one person won a World Championship bronze medal and that is in wrestling. One dark horse might spring up to surprise the world, but you don’t wait for miracles like that to happen; you plan. “We just went with a contingent of 20 to Alexandria for the African Championships and Olympics qualifiers for 11 days and it cost us N115 million. That is how expensive it is.
“We have some of such people on the board, but I have not had extensive discussion with any of them. I am sure we will get somebody to fit the bill.” Although some of the country’s top wrestlers have moved abroad to work as coaches and lecturers, Igali said that he is proud of the fact that all the country’s wrestlers were trained in Nigeria.
Desiree Ellis, coach of South Africa’s female national football team, Bayana Bayana, has described their 0-1 loss to the Super Falcons of Nigeria as “just half time”.
Daniel Igali Nigerian Wrestling Federation Wrestlers
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