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I was told to quit wrestling after robbers attacked me –— Amas

I  was  told  to quit  wrestling after robbers  attacked me  –— Amas

Wrestler Daniel Amas won a bronze medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games with a shoulder injury. The 28-year-old told Idris Adesina about the injury and more in this interview

How would you describe your performance at the recent 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia?

I’m not satisfied with the bronze I won because I went on the Gold Coast with the aim of becoming the Commonwealth champion but that didn’t go as planned. However, winning the medal will keep me on the track to getting that gold medal I want so badly. If I hadn’t won any medal, it would have been more painful because I had to go through pain to get that bronze as it were.

Having attended the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, how would you describe the level of competition at both events?

The Commonwealth Games is not a bad event but it has fewer number of contestants compared with the Olympics. The countries participating in the Commonwealth Games are tough because we have countries like Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan and many others that are strong in wrestling there. The Olympics adds countries like the USA, China and many more to it – which makes it tougher to win medals than at the Commonwealth Games.

You were unable to win a medal at the 2017 World Championships in France. How were you able to bounce back to win bronze in Australia?

Since I started wrestling, I had my eyes set on becoming a world and Olympic champion and I believe that I will achieve it before I quit the sport. It was a bitter pill for me to swallow when I couldn’t win a medal in France because I believed I stood a good chance last year. The guy I lost to went on to become the world champion in our category. I was in one of my best forms but it didn’t happen as I thought it would be. I believe that sports is about winning and losing. I was able to draw strength from the loss last year and I got the motivation to go for a medal in Australia this year. This medal is once again driving me to work harder towards the next World Championships and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where I hope to achieve my targets.

The 2020 Olympic Games is around the corner. What are your targets if you make it there?

The goal is simple – to become an Olympic champion. I missed out on a medal in Rio in 2016 and it was painful but I believe that when the time to achieve success comes, nothing will stop it. I have returned to training in preparation for competitions and I keep praying that injury should not stop my ambition to get a podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics.

Wrestling was one of the sports expected to win medals at the Rio 2016 Games but it did not happen. How can this be addressed at Tokyo 2020?

Our president Daniel Igali always tells us that there is no shortcut to success at any major competition – what we need is early preparations. The preparations for the 2016 Olympics didn’t come in time but we tried our best, which unfortunately didn’t yield the expected results. The 2020 Olympics is closer than we think and what we can do to guarantee success is to start early preparations from now. We need to attend as many competitions as we can to keep in shape for the Games. Exposure is what gives wrestlers the needed experience to excel and it goes beyond attending two or three competitions. Countries like Canada are world and Olympic champions because there is a systematic growth of wrestlers in their countries and they have sponsorship to attend international competitions. The corporate bodies and government should collaborate with the federation, who are willing to do more for the sport. They should invest more in the sport and the results will be seen.

What are the challenges faced by wrestlers in the country?

With the current efforts of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation president Daniel Igali, the fortunes of wrestlers in Nigeria have improved from what it used to be in the past. I think the challenges still lie in the areas of sponsorship and motivation. The popularity of the sport in the country is growing but we want wrestling to be a household name around Nigeria just like football.

In comparison with football, would you say Nigerians are neglecting wrestling?

Nigerians are neglecting wrestling at the expense of football. Sadly, it is not only wrestling that is suffering this fate. There are many sports that can give Nigeria a lot of medals because they are individual sports rather than football, which is only assured of one medal for the team. Unfortunately, all the sponsorships go to football at the expense of these sports, which is why we don’t have much success on the international scene. If the government can encourage private bodies to pick a sport and invest in the athletes, the results will change over the years. The neglect makes other sports feel less important to football.

Some years ago, you were attacked and injured by armed robbers and you almost quit the sport. How did you come back to the sport from the incident?

That robbery incident was a very unfortunate one and I keep thanking God because He saved my life. In 2012, I was attacked by armed robbers in my home and I was severely attacked with machetes. The attack affected my shoulder, head and some other parts of my body. I was advised to leave wrestling after many surgeries but I stuck to my guns and today, I am still a wrestler. I stuck with the sport because wrestling is what I love doing a lot. It gives me unquantifiable joy whenever I am called to the mat. I will always be grateful Igali because without him and a few other persons then, I wouldn’t have been able to return to the sport. I have moved on from then and my focus now is to become an Olympic and world champion.

Before your bronze medal fight against Canada’s Vincent De Marinis in Gold Coast, you were advised not to wrestle by the doctors because of a recurrence of your shoulder injury. Why did you go ahead with the fight?

Truthfully, since the injury I sustained from the robbery attack, I have never been able to give my 100 per cent at competitions because I have to be careful to avoid aggravating it. But because wrestling is what I love doing a lot, I couldn’t imagine myself not going for a fight when I can do it. I went for that fight with the injury because I believed that I could win and bring back a medal to the country, and I am glad I did.

Who has been your toughest opponent?

Georgian wrestler Zurabi Lakobishvili will be the toughest I have fought with. In 2016, we met and he defeated me 2-1 but in 2017 in France, he defeated me again and went on to become the world champion. He is a sleek and skillful wrestler. He encourages me a lot, that I can still be a world champion if I work hard at it.

You have dominated the 65kg class in Africa. Wrestlers from South Africa and Egypt are coming up. Do you see them as threats to you?

Honestly, I don’t see the African wrestlers as threats – not because I am underrating them but because I want to rule the world. I have been able to beat some of the best in Africa; I want to also beat the best on the world stage. I believe that with God on my side, I can put Nigeria on the world map in wrestling.

How did you begin wrestling?

I started wrestling from secondary school. Wrestling is traditional to us in Bayelsa and I am used to it. It is a lifestyle to us because we wrestle in the rain and sunshine. It was Igali, who I met during one of our traditional wrestling competitions, that brought me from my hometown to the city and taught me the rudiments of wrestling and the rest, as they say, is history.

What is your advice to up-and-coming wrestlers?

Wrestling is a sport that teaches you a lot of patience and perseverance. They should be focused and never get discouraged by the challenges they may face. There would be days they will feel like giving up but the target they have set for themselves should always keep them going. They should also be disciplined because that will take them a long way.

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