Wrestlers prepare for tough championships

Wrestlers from across the country travelled to Primrose this weekend to take part in the South African Wrestling Federation’s (SAWF) Commonwealth Wrestling Championships’ training camp.

November 22, 2017

Leigh Hodgson 2 minutes read

Wrestlers, who were selected as part of the South African National Wrestling Team, met at the Raptors Wrestling Club in Primrose this weekend for a special South African Wrestling Federation (SAWF) Commonwealth Championships training camp. During the camp, wrestlers Machiel Grobler from Central Gauteng and Abongile Mabena from Western Province took part in a practice match.

The Raptors Wrestling Club in Oak Avenue Primrose was the host of the South African Wrestling Federation’s (SAWF) Commonwealth Championships training camp over the weekend.

The camp saw the South African national team, with wrestlers from Johannesburg, Pretoria, Roodepoort, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and even Cape Town, training together in preparation for the championships which will be held in December at Carnival City.

The championships comprise a total of 10 weight categories in each of the disciplines that will be wrestled, including men’s freestyle, men’s Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling, where all participants are in the senior age group.

While the Commonwealth Games wrestling events do not host men’s Greco-Roman wrestling as a discipline, the discipline will be hosted at the South African Commonwealth Wrestling Championships to provide these participants the opportunity to compete. It is the oldest and most spectacular style in the sport of wrestling.

The SA team was selected by the Coaches Council after the national trials which were held on October 21 at the Northern Gauteng Competition Hall.

The championships will see SA compete against international wrestling powerhouses such as Canada, Scotland, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand Kenya, Sierra Leone, Jamaica and Nigeria.

The event is often used by international federations and national sport regulatory bodies to qualify their participants for the quadrennial 2018 Commonwealth Games to be hosted on the Gold Coast in Australia in April 2018.

This will be the second time SA will host this prestigious event.

At the training camp, wrestlers were put through their paces.

The camp included a gruelling fitness test, which tests a number of different skills and the wrestlers’ staying power, before the team broke into smaller groups for training matches.

The wrestlers were cheered on by friends, family and fellow wrestlers during the event.

The team will now look ahead to the championships.

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