The Sydney University Wrestling Club has had a fantastic
start to the 2010 season with three competitors and two referees just back from
the Oceania Championships in Apia, Samoa.
The Australian team won the competition having won 32 of 63 gold medals
on offer.
Rising star Jayden Lawrence took away three gold medals,
winning both 54kg Cadet (15-17 years) Freestyle and the Cadet freestyle Youth
Olympic Trials. He also competed in the
Juniors (18-19 years) and at only 15 years of age won the 55kg division, which
is just an outstanding result. He also
won bronze in the lightweight Cadet Male Beach Wrestling, also remarkable
considering he was competing against boys up to 20kg heavier. For his efforts he was awarded the Best Cadet
Wrestler award, and will most likely be selected for the Youth Olympic Games in
Singapore in July of this year.
Kyla Bremner, 2008 Olympian and 2010 Commonwealth Games
hopeful, won the 55kg Women’s Freestyle, as well as the Lightweight Women’s
Beach Wrestling.
Club coach, Leonid Zaslavsky, was funded by The Oceania
Wrestling Association to attend a weeklong Oceania Coaching Clinic prior to the
competition. He rolled around like a pig
in mud learning many new techniques from former World Champion wrestler,
Bulgarian Ivan Ivanov, which should spice up our training sessions for the next
little while.
Leonid and his brother, SUWC member Alex Zaslavsky, also
refereed at the competition and attended the FILA (la Féderation International
des Luttes Associées) Referees Clinic.
Our Samoan hosts put on a well-organised and social event,
and we are delighted that they have won the bid to host the tournament next
year as well. It was a special pleasure to meet Mr Seiuli Wallwork, who is Samoa’s
first University Blue, awarded for weightlifting by Sydney Uni in 1968. He talked about how 40 years ago they used to
have a strong weightlifting club that trained regularly in the bottom level of
HK Ward Gym. His son, Tuaopepe Jerry
Wallwork, is now the President of both the Samoan Wrestling and Weightlifting
Associations and has been instrumental in organizing major sporting events in
Samoa like the Oceania Wrestling Championships.
Earlier in year, our competitive season began with the NSW
State Titles at Lake Illawarra in February where we got four golds, a silver
and a bronze. Next we competed in the
Australian National Championships, which was also the first of the Commonwealth
Games qualifiers, in Canberra in March where we took two gold, a silver and a
bronze, and Kyla Bremner won the Best Female Wrestler trophy. Veteran club member and 1968 wrestling
Olympian for Great Britain, Martin Doyle, is also looking at competing in the
Veterans World Championships in Switzerland in July. A number of other
wrestlers who compete for other clubs but attend training at Sydney University
also won medals at the State and National Championships. We’ll have to work harder at recruiting them
to compete for us in the future!
The Wrestling Club is looking forward to the 2010 Australia
Cup in Melbourne in May, as well as the June qualifier for the Youth Olympics
in Singapore in July, the World Championships in Moscow in September, and the
Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.
Results for Sydney
University Wrestling Club Members 2010
NSW State Titles
Gold – Kyla Bremner
55kg Women’s Freestyle
–
Jayden Lawrence 54kg Men’s Cadet Freestyle and
55kg Male Junior Freestyle
–
Theo Tusoulis 84kg Men’s Freestyle
Silver – Chris Yiangou
74kg Men’s Freestyle
Bronze- Martin Doyle 74kg Men’s Freestyle
National
Championships (and first Commonwealth Games Qualifier)
Gold -Kyla Bremner
55kg Women’s Freestyle
BEST FEMALE
WRESTLER AWARD
-Jayden Lawrence 54kg Cadet
Freestyle
Silver -Jayden Lawrence 55kg Junior Men’s Freestyle
Bronze-Martin Doyle 74kg Men’s Freestyle
4th -Theo
Tusoulis 84kg Men’s Freestyle (injury default last match)
6th -Chris
Yiangou 74kg Men’s Freestyle
Oceania Championships
Gold –
Kyla Bremner 55kg Women’s Freestyle and Lightweight (under 60kg) Women’s Beach Wrestling
–
Jayden Lawrence 54kg Cadet Men’s Freestyle Youth
Olympic Trials, 54kg Cadet Men’s Freestyle, and 55kg Male Junior Freestyle
BEST
CADET WRESTLER AWARD
Bronze-Jayden Lawrence Lightweight (under 75kg) Cadet Men’s Beach
Wrestling
