Written by As part of their build-up for the Commonwealth Games in October, the six member NZ team took part in the Grand Prix of Spain event on 10 – 11 July in Madrid. Getting between 1 & 4 bouts was valuable preparation for what lies ahead.
Results:
Senior freestyle – Andrei Paulet (66kg) won his first round bout (4,0) (3,0) against Evgeni Chigrin (Israel), before meeting the eventual Gold medalist Martin Daum (Germany), losing (0,5) (0,3). Because of his loss to a finalist, he came back into the repechage where he lost to Zhirair Hovhannistan (Armenia) (0,7) (0,3). He finished in 11th place, 8 spots above his Aussie rival, Mehrdad Tarash. South African Heinrich Barnes took a bronze medal.
Steve Hill (84kg) met Istuan Vereb (Hungary) in the first round and was unable to advance any further (0,13) (0,4). Vereb eventually finished in 7th place, behind Australian Gene Kapaufs who was 5th=. Gerald Meyer took another bronze medal for South Africa.
After an opening round bye, Aaron Quinlan (96kg) drew a major Commonwealth rival in Anuj Kumar (India), losing a close match (0,5) (0,3). A South African and an Indian wrestler finished 5th= in this weight.
Nick Lane (120kg) had a busy day, with four bouts against Kazahkstan, Spain, India and Hungary. Despite not being able to come up with a victory, the mat time stands him in good stead for the Games.
Senior Greco-Roman – Sam Belkin (96kg) had one bout against Jose Castillo (Spain) and did well to score points in both rounds, but was unable to advance any further, losing (2,6) (1,3), with an unfortunate ref’s call near the end. Thanks to his points scored, he finished in 8th place, one place behind the Indian, and second of the 3 Commonwealth wrestlers entered.
Senior Female – Sian Law (51kg) had a first round bye before meeting Alexandra Englehardt (Germany), the eventual bronze medalist. The points finished up at (0,10) (0,5). Australian rival Kyla Bremner finished 5th=.
The freestyle men are now in a training camp with 42 other wrestlers & Sian is in a female camp with 56 female wrestlers.
After the camps, the freestylers go on to Sheffied, England, where they will compete in the Great Britain Cup on the 16 – 17th July.
