The Nigeria Wresting Federation confirmed this in a
statement by its media officer, Emeka Dennar, on Monday.
The 10-time African champion Oborududu will face top seed
Tamyra Stock Mensah in Tuesday’s final, after the American World champion
overpowered Ukraine’s Alla Cherkasova 10-4 in the first semi-final.
Following her passage to the final, the 32-year-old is guaranteed
a silver, at least – the first wrestling medal in the country’s history at the
Olympics.
On her way to the final, Obourududu made light work of Elis
Manolova in the round of 16, thrashing the Azerbaijani 13-2 via technical
superiority, before securing a hard-fought 3-2 win against Meerim Zhumanazarova
of Kyrgyzstan in the quarter-finals.
After a cagey opening moment in her semi-final bout against
the 2015 World champion Soronzonbold, the energetic Oborududu burst into
action, taking down the 31-year-old Mongolian thrice to eventually win the
first round 7-0.
A late fight back saw Soronzonbold score two points, but
Oborududu was never going to be denied a place in history as she ran out with a
comfortable 7-2 win.
The second seed Oborududu will renew her rivalry with old
foe Mensah, as they battle for the ultimate prize – gold medal, with the pair
expected to get on the mat around 11.15am Nigerian time.
They last met at the 2019 World championships in Kazakhstan,
with the American getting the better of Oborududu on her way to the title.