The President of the National Wrestling Association, Prince Sualley has said that the visit of Diaier Favori the FILA representative for Africa in wrestling sports to Sierra Leone is a blessing to the Association.
Prince also noted that the main purpose of the mission is to help organize wrestling in Africa and also to assist the National Wrestling Association to plan for the first edition of the Wrestling competition for the four Mano River Union countries; Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone that have been slated for April this year. Prince also stated that Favori is also here to monitor the progress made so far by the Association as FILA have been helping the Association over the past years with donations of wrestling materials and also to organize a course in Freetown.
When asked about Diaier Favori’s opinion about the Association Prince said he is impressed with the performance made so far and that is why FILA has sent him to help the Association to improve more on their standard.
FILA were very impressed with the results in the African Championship in Senegal in May last year when one of their wrestlers won a Bronze medal at the end of the competition.
This has sent a positive signal to FILA that the country has young talented wrestlers if trained and exposed to international competition, will create serious impact in the international arena.
He reminded Sierra Leoneans that Wrestling Sports is not a- first sport in the country but that in the last two years, the Sport has been growing and is now becoming popular and it is hopeful that very soon wrestling will take a different level in the country in terms of standard and popularity.
He further stated that five years ago people in the country did not know even know that Wrestling was an Olympic sport.
He noted that it is only now that Sierra Leoneans are following the sports both locally and internationally. He said that the coming of Favori means a lot for every wrestling sport loving fan in the country.
Favori he said held a fruitful meeting with the Minister of Sports, Youth, and Employment Paul Kamara and they also exchanged ideas with the NOC executive and the Secretary General of the Mano River Union. He also visited the site of the Olympic Africa project site at Goderich to have first hand information about the status of project as they are in agreement with Olympic Africa that wrestling must be part of the plan.
The Wrestling President further stated that this year will be a blessing for the Wrestling Sport as they aspire to take the sport to a higher height that is why the executive is doing everything possible to make sure that they have Wrestling clubs countrywide for the growth and popularity of the sport.
Prince said that Diaier Favori is the first FILA representative to visit Sierra Leone and he will be visiting the country next month to see the progress the country has made in terms of preparation for the peace tournament in April.
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