Wrestlers ready to rumble
The Brakpan club will be participating in a host of local and provincial competitions.
Brakpan Wrestling Club has started 2016 with a bang.
The club’s wrestlers are back at practise every Tuesday and Wednesday evening, from 6pm to 8pm.
“We are extremely excited about a new competition format within Eastern Gauteng Wrestling, the new Hawks Wrestling League for our youth and long-term development athletes,” said club secretary Gussie Bartlett.
On the weekend of January 23, two of the local club’s senior wrestlers took to the mat to participate in the national trials, in Primrose.
Martin Erasmus placed first in the men’s 96kg freestyle division and Michael Gaitskill placed second in both the men’s 86kg freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions.
This is an Olympic year and the South African senior team will be off to Egypt in early March, for the continental championships, and then off to either Mongolia or Turkey later in the year, to try to qualify for Rio.
Erasmus should be included in that team and, based on his performance in Egypt, should go on to the qualifying events.
Besides these international tournaments, the Brakpan club will be participating in a host of local and provincial competitions, as well as the four South African Championships held during the year.
“Based on last year’s results we should be right up there again, competing with the best clubs in South Africa,” said Bartlett.
People interested in taking up the sport can join the club practises at the Brakpan Indoor Sports Centre, or visit their Facebook page at “Brakpan Wrestling Club” for more information.
