Daniel Igali needs two wins this weekend to get to Athens Olympics

March 7 2004

The freestyle wrestler from Surrey, B.C., needs to beat Zoltan Hunyady of Guelph, Ont., in a best-of-three series Saturday in St. Catharines, Ont., to earn a spot on the Canadian Olympic team in Athens in August.
The wrestle-off was needed because Igali was unable to compete at the Olympic trials in December due to a rib injury. Hunyady won the 74-kilogram division and has been given a 1-0 lead in Saturday's best-of-three series because of his success at the trials. That means Igali will need two wins while Hunyady can make the team with just one.

On paper, Igali appears to be the clear favourite - an Olympic and world champion with five Canadian titles to his name.

But Hunyady, a 29-year-old high school science teacher in Fergus, Ont., is a worthy opponent. He is a former Ontario and Canadian university champion and a Pan American Games bronze medallist. He has defeated Igali once, in 1997.

Igali isn't taking him lightly.

"I have to be at my best to win both matches," Igali said. "If nothing else happens, he's the guy on the Olympic team, so I look at it like I have to knock him off to get on the team. I think I'll do all right."

He says he isn't using his past matches with Hunyady to prepare for Saturday.

"I always approach matches as if I've never wrestled them before," said Igali. "The past will not matter."

The wrestle-off, which is taking place during the CIS national championships at Brock University, will be shown live on TV. The first match is set for 3:30 p.m. EST while the second, if necessary, will go at 5 p.m.

Igali, a 30-year-old native of Nigeria, has lived in Canada since he competed in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. But he became a national hero at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when he knelt to the floor and kissed a Canadian flag after winning a gold medal in the 69-kilogram division.

Back then, qualifying for the Games wasn't quite so complicated.

"Four years ago, when I qualified for the Olympics I didn't even realize it. Qualification wasn't even an issue for me," Igali said. "Now the qualification has almost been a battle in itself, which I think should prepare me for matches in the future."

Since his success in Sydney, Igali has battled injury. His 2001 season was essentially wiped out because of a back problem that continued to nag him in 2002. Last year began with major neck surgery in February followed by the rib injury.

He hasn't escaped personal tragedy either. His father died last spring in Nigeria.

Igali earned Canada an Olympic spot in the 74-kilogram class during a qualifying tournament in Bratislava, Slovakia, in January. Guivi Sissaouri of Montreal has already qualified in the 60-kilogram class while Ottawa's Evan MacDonald earned a spot in the 66-kilogram class.

Viola Yannick of Saskatoon is the only Canadian female to earn a berth so far. There are women's qualifying events in Tunis, Tunisia, this weekend and March 20-21 in Madrid.

Igali was forced to compete at the qualifying event in Slovakia after he finished 11th at the world championships in September. He needed a top-10 placing to secure an Olympic berth.

But he's not focusing on Athens just yet.

"I'm somebody that takes what is at hand as the priority," he said. "I have to win (Saturday) and in all honesty, if I cannot beat a Canadian, I don't deserve to go to the Olympics."