No fewer than 11 countries have arrived in Abuja for the 13th ECOWAS African Wrestling Tournament, set for March 6-8, at the Velodrome, Moshood Abiola National Stadium.
The tournament is part of celebrations for the 50th anniversary of ECOWAS.
The Director of the ECOWAS Youth and Sports Development Centre, Francis Njoaguani, stated this on Tuesday at a news conference.
He said that 55 athletes, comprising both male and female wrestlers, would compete in the highly anticipated tournament meant to foster unity and regional integration.
According to Njoaguani, the event will feature 11 out of the 12 ECOWAS member states, with 33 male and 22 female wrestlers taking part in individual and team competitions.
The tournament marks a historic milestone as Nigeria hosts the event for the first time, which was previously held in Senegal and Niger.
The countries participating in the tournament include Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and hosts Nigeria.
Regional leaders had in September 2000 officially adopted African wrestling as an ECOWAS sport and aimed to popularise it for regional integration and Olympic Games status.
African wrestling, a traditional style of West African folk wrestling, is known as Laamb in Senegal, Boreh in The Gambia, and Kokowa in Nigeria and Niger.
