Palau sent two (2) athletes to compete in the Africa Oceania Olympic Games Qualifier in Alexandria, Egypt. They were Uilau Tarkong and Cristian Etpison Nicolescu. Among the Oceania countries that competed against the African countries were Australia, Guam, FSM, Nauru, New Zealand and Palau. In this event only the top two (2) athletes who win in their respective weight divisions went on to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games.
On March 22, 2024, day 01 of the Africa Oceania Olympic Games Qualifier, Cristian Etpison Nicolescu wrestled in the 67kg mens senior weight division against Ishak Ghaiou of Algeria and lost by a score of 9-0. It was a very toughmatch against Ghaiou who went on to defeat Ando Lehtmets of Australia to place in the top 2 spots for the Olympic Games. Souleymen Nasr of Tunisa also earned a spot and qualified for the Olympic Games after defeating Sahid Tejan Karbo of Sierre Leone. Cristian ranked 8 out of 9 wrestlers.
On day number 2, Uilau Ilebrang Tarkong competed in the women’s wrestling 68kg weight division. Uilau wrestled Kawiyatou Issifou of Benin. Uilau came out strong in the match and defeated her opponent with a score of 18-8. Uilau went on to wrestle Blessing Oborududu, but lost the match. Oborududu came out strong and went on to qualify for the Olympic Games. Uilau placed 3rd overall out of 7 wrestlers. Also qualifying was Tayla Ford of New Zealand who defeated Samah Abdellatif of Egypt. Both Oborududu and Taylor went on to qualify for the Olympic Games.
On the final day of the competition, in the freestyle men’s senior weight division, Cristian Etpison Nicolescu wrestled against Stephen Izolo but lost the match. Cristian ranked 13th out of 14th participants. The two top qualifiers for the Olympic Games were Gaku Akazawa who represented Samoa and Georgi Okoorkovv of Australia. Gaku was able to defeat his opponents from the FSM, Egypt and Guinea-Bissau while Okoorkovv defeated his opponents from Cameroon, Cape Verde and Angola.
On behalf of our athletes and team, we would like to thank the Palau NOC and our sponsors to include WCTC, the Etpison Foundation, NECO Plaza, families and friends. The final Olympic Games Qualifier will be in Istanbul, Turkey and our team is hopeful that we can take part in this last event.