Port Harcourt ready for African Wrestling Championship, says Wike

RIVERS State Governor, Nyesom Wike has assured participants in the forthcoming African Wrestling Championship that they would experience a hitch- free event, saying the venue, the Alfred Diete Spiff’s Civic Centre, is in top shape to host the continent’s number one wrestling fiesta. The venue of the five-day continental fiesta has been in preparation for the championship, which holds between February 5 and 11.

The governor assured that all arrangements were already in place to make the venue a comfortable place for visiting contingents of various countries, adding, “We have all the workers we need in place and there is enough time for them to finish putting the place in order. I am also happy that the technical people in the sport have visited the venue to confirm it was okay.

“The enabling environment for a world-class event is what we are trying to put in place and so far we are on course.”

The President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali, told newsmen during an inspection recently that the AWC venue had all that was expected in international competition.

Igali said: “There will be three big mats at the complex for the competition so that three bouts can go on simultaneously and there is a good changing room. We also have warm up area.

“The media will also have the chance of talking to the wrestlers immediately after every bout because there is an area marked for that. Everything needed are in the venue, we expect a great tournament.”