Sadiku arrives ahead of schedule
About an hour after winning the Canadian Olympic wrestling trials and his first national title Saturday, Ligrit Sadiku was still trying to process his memorable night.
“It was surreal and I didn’t even know how to react to it,” the Brock Wrestling Club member said. “I wasn’t going crazy and I should have been more happy, but I was sitting there with mixed emotions in my head.
“It was almost like I forgot that I had won the Olympic trials, but now I am just so happy about it.”
Competing against Aso Palini of the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, Sadiku lost the first round 4-3 when the judges over-ruled a decision to give him two points that would have made him a 5-4 winner. He then rebounded to beat the former two-time senior world championship team member 12-2 to force a third and a deciding round. He then booked his ticket to the 2020 Pan-American Olympic Qualification Tournament March 13-15 in Ottawa with a 4-0 victory.
“I came in well-prepared, I felt ready and good and I did expect to win,” said the 23-year-old native of Summerside, P.E.I..
This spring, he won a bronze medal in the 57-kilogram weight class after winning bronze in the 62-kilogram non-Olympic weight class in 2018.
“At Brock, we are always ready for these tournaments and even though I won, I don’t think I wrestled to my full potential,” he said. “I could have done better and I am going to use this to move forward and bring out my full potential.”
Brock Wrestling Club head coach Marty Calder was impressed with Sadiku’s performance.
“It was the first time he won nationals so that is a big step,” he said. “You can see that he doesn’t quite have the confidence even though he is a lot better than he knows he is.
“Under pressure in the third match, he wrestled fantastic and I am really proud of him.”
Sadiku agreed with Calder’s assessment.
“I definitely have more in me and I can’t want until it comes out.”
After winning a U Sports title at Western, Sadiku transferred to Brock where he has won back-to-back Canadian university titles.
The Brock wrestling room has been the perfect location to chase his dreams.
“The biggest thing is that everyone in there has the same dreams and goals,” he said. “We all want to go to the Olympics and we are all training hard and pushing each other. No one there is doing it half-assed.”
He feels it is the only place to be to achieve his goals.
“It’s hard to do that if you are in a room where you are the only one who is motivated enough and the rest are just trying to win U Sports or something.”
Winning the Olympic trials has Sadiku feeling ahead of schedule.
“I feel I got at least one or two more in me, for sure.”
