Nigeria's Amarachi Obiajunwa on Sunday bagged a ticket to participate in wrestling at the forthcoming Beijing Olympics in August, according the News Agency of Nigeria report on Tuesday.

Obiajunwa and three other Nigerians took part in the final Olympic qualifiers held in Haparanda, Sweden from May 31 to June 1.

The Nigerian female wrestler fought in the female 72kg freestyle category and defeated her French opponent Auddrey Prieto Bokhashvili.

She is expected to join compatriot Wilson Siware, 120kg Greco-Roman fighter, who had earlier secured a berth at the Beijing Games.

Four Nigerian wrestlers had earlier qualified for the Games in February during the African qualifier held in Tunisia in February, but lost their chances because Nigeria failed to take part in the World Championships in September 2007.

The International Federation of Associate Wrestling Styles (FILA) rule stipulates that Olympics-bound athletes must take part in the World Championships.

Nigeria also failed to travel to Edmonton, Canada when the Nigeria Amateur Wrestling Federation (NAWF) could not obtain visas for the wrestlers to take part in another qualifier.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2008)