Olaniyan, Faari Win KCCN Amateur Ssireum Games

Tosin Olaniyan and Suruola Faari are the winners of the 2nd Korean Culture Center Nigeria (KCCN) Ssireum Amateur Game.

Olaniyan outclassed Philip Yina Labba (2nd place) and Chisom Adati (3rd place) to emerge champion in the male category of tournament, while Faari swept past Bella Daniel (2nd position) and Emeka Maryann (3rd place) to win the female category.

Originated during the Goguryeo era of Korea (37BC – 668AD) Ssireum is a traditional Korean wrestling sport that played during Korean holidays as Seollal (New Year) and Chuseok (Harvest Thanksgiving). The 3-day feast, Chuseok, is celebrated annually in September.

To mark this year’s harvest thanksgiving festival, KCCN hosted a second edition of the amateur games convening friends and fans of the center to compete.

Originally a heavyweight game, the Korean government modified the sport when it declared it an all-weight event, with weight categories for males ranging from 40kg to 120kg, and five female categories comprising 35kg to 60kg and above.

In Ssireum, contestants begin the game by stepping into a ring, often a sand-filled circle. Bowing to one another they get down on their knees, each holding onto a cloth rope tied to the opponent’s waist, and rise to mid-stand. With the bang of the Jang-geum (Korean drum), the athletes are off at a grapple to see who pins the other back-first to the ground.

“Ssireum is growing rapidly in the world today. Taekwondo is the number 1 martial arts from Korea, but I tell you that in the next few decades Ssireum will assume a position such that it will begin to feature at the Olympics.

“In Nigeria today, as we engage in annual demonstrations of Ssireum, we will come to a point where we will have Ssireum clubs all over the country. We want to take it to the school because the school system is the basic place to develop any sports. Our emphasis is to organize Ssireum clubs at primary and secondary schools and by the time you have it at the NUGA Games and the National Sports Festival, then the sport is here to stay,“said KCCN taekwondo head coach, Gbolahan Ogumuyiwa.