Team Nigeria Vows to Win 8th African Arm Wrestling Championship

Femi Solaja
The Chief Coach of Team Nigeria’s Arm Wrestling squad, Femi Akinsanya, has vowed that the country’s squad would spring surprises at the 8th Africa Arm Wrestling Championship, Lagos 2017 as the competition begins on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at the Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall inside the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

Akinsanya, who is assisted by Ogenna Nnmezu said that, Team Nigeria has been preparing for the championship months ago with series of national championships hosted by the Samuel Jackson-led Nigeria Arm Wrestling Federation.

“We have the athletes with the right character to win the overall title of the African Championship in the male category. Our ladies are also not bad. We know our strongest challengers would be coming from Egypt, Cameroon, Mali and Ghana, but we are equal to the task.

“We shall be presenting 20 athletes to launch the country into prominence in the African continent.
“We have been to two World Championships and have garnered enough exposure to take the lead in Africa,” observed the coach.

The competition is to begin with the Technical Meeting and the African Congress where far reaching decisions about the sport in the continent will be discussed.

The main competition is scheduled to commence on June 29 with weighing of athletes and the Referees Seminar.
The championship is to be formally declared opened on Friday, June 30 by the President of the African Arm Wrestling Federation, Zain El abedin Aly, who is already in Lagos from Egypt.

The closing ceremony on Saturday would witness celebrity arm wrestling contests where top sports administrators and other members of the public would take to the floor in demonstration events.