BOP wrestlers take to the mat

Some 90 wrestlers took to the mat at the QE2 Memorial Hall over the weekend for the Bay of Plenty Wrestling Championships.

Due to training commitments, a number of the more experienced wrestlers were missing, but a multitude of youngsters gained plenty of experience at the championships held on Sunday.


Around 90 wrestlers competed in the Bay of Plenty Wrestling Championships over the weekend. Photo: File.

Mount Maunganui head coach and tournament organiser Mark Grayling says the wrestlers who were missing were training hard for the National Championships to be held in Tauranga on August 28-29.

But there was still plenty of class on display, including senior New Zealand team member Caylen Greenwood, who is home following a gruelling training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport.

The Mount Maunganui Club wrestler took centre stage at the tournament and had moved up a weight division to get competition and try out some of his newly-learned techniques.

'He defeated fellow Mount team members Angus Ardain and Bailey Jackson to claim the gold medal in the 95kg class,” says Mark.

'Another to impress was Tayla Ford (2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist), who also made the trip to Canberra and was able to try out some new moves in defeating Ana Moceyawa and Esther Wolthers, to take out the Senior Female 67kg division.”

Mount Maunganui senior wrestler Marshall Gibson also showed he will be hard to beat in the 125kg division at the National Championships when he won the 130kg gold medal on Sunday.

While the best performing Mount Maunganui wrestler was Blair Bromwich, who finally got some matches in his actual weight group and impressed in taking out the gold medal in the 10-11 42kg class.

'The most impressive victory on the day was new Mount Maunganui recruit Wyatt McQuillin, who beat a more experienced Finbar O'Sullivan by a ten point margin,” explains Mark.

'Suraj Singh from Katikati showed the benefit of three weeks wrestling in the USA earlier in the year, when he moved up a weight division to easily claim the gold medal.”

The other Mount Maunganui wrestlers signalled out by Mark were Chanel Kavanagh and Ana Moceyawa, who registered their first wins on the mat.

Esther Wolthers and Ella Derry were further Mount wrestlers to earn acclaim, while five-year-old Ty Kelly was too good for the field in the Under 7 21kg class.

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