Our gym is unavailable on Monday 28th May, so there will be no training.

Normal training resumes on Thursday 31st.

Congratulations to Dilworth Club members who won medals at the Auckland Secondary Schools Wrestling Champs this week, especially the Gold medal winners - in the Senior division: Josh Downes 85kg (Mt Albert Grammar), Coen Beynon 76kg (Dargaville HS), Sang Nguyen 54kg (Dilworth); & in the Junior division: Sean Fusitu"A 85kg+ (Dilworth), David-John Phillips 76kg (Dilworth), Matt Downes 58kg (Mt Albert Grammar), Shahin Ariyazand 54kg (Dilworth) & Douglas Lloyd 50kg (Dilworth). Josh also won the Best Male Wrestler award.

Club members had a successful first day at the freestyle wrestling in the Oceania Continental Champs in Sydney. Gold medals were won by Josh Downes, Matthew Downes & Acoya Chant at Cadet level, Damen Beynon & Tayla Ford at Junior level and Faisal Attayee at Senior level. Silvers went to Cadet Shahin Ariyazand & Seniors Marcus Carney, Clinton Davies, Karim Moradi & Tayla Ford.

There WILL be training on Monday 23rd January, but there will NOT be training on Thursday 26th and Monday 30th because we have such a large representation at the Oceania Championships in Sydney.

Normal training times will resume from Thursday 2nd February.

Twelve members of the club are competing as members of the NZ team at the Oceania Champs in Sydney, 27-29 January.

Senior male: Marcus Carney (120kg), Craig Miller (84kg), Faisal Attayee (84kg), Clinton Davies (74kg), Karim Moradi (60kg).

Senior female: Tayla Ford (63kg).

Junior male (18-20): Damen Beynon (74kg).

Cadet male (15-17): Josh Downes (76kg), Coen Beynon (76kg), Matthew Downes (54kg), Shahin Ariyazand (50kg), Acoya Chant (46kg).

Seniors who place first or second will be eligible to compete in Marrakech, Morocco, against the top two placegetters from the African Continental Championships. The top two at this event will qualify for the London Olympics.

Day 2 saw competition in the Senior freestyle, Junior Greco-Roman & Cadet (14-16) freestyle categories, in addition to the Senior no-gi Grappling in which Dilworth had no competitors. In the 3 wrestling divisions we excelled.

Marcus Carney (120kg) followed his successful day in Greco with 4 wins in Senior freestyle to win the gold medal. In a very tight 96kg field, where the 2nd, 3rd & 4th placegetters were all tied on two wins/two losses, Jatinder Sandhu took the bronze. Despite having just returned to the sport after a lengthy lay-off since last year, he only lost to the gold medallist & NZ representative Sam Belkin (0,1) (0,2). The always tough Dan Hayman was unlucky to slip to 4th on the countback.

Craig Miller was on fire in taking the 84kg silver. Initially intending to compete only in Greco, Craig was annoyed at himself for an error which saw him lose his Greco final & so entered the freestyle to get rid of his demons, leaving nothing on the mat in this final.

At 74kg, Clinton Davies (a double Commonwealth Greco medallist) was dominant in taking the gold - and his first ever National freestyle title.

The Junior Greco-Roman saw a parade of Dilworth Gold medals: Josh Downes (84kg), Damen Beynon (74kg), Matthew Downes (55kg) & Shahin Ariyazand (50kg).

Cadet freestyle also saw considerable success. We had a 1,2,3 at 76kg, with Josh Downes taking a second gold, Coen Beynon silver and the rapidly improving Keagan Licence bronze. Matthew Downes equalled big brother with a gold at 54kg, Shahin Ariyazand also took his second at 50kg & Acoya Chant won gold at 46kg.

When the Special Awards were announced at the evening Prizegiving dinner, we took the Top Greco-Roman Club trophy again, as well as the Cadet Shield for top Cadet club. Damen Beynon was honoured with thw Aiichi Trophy for the Best Performance in Greco-Roman when he won an exciting Junior 74kg final against Caylen Greenwood (Katikati).

The first day of the Nationals saw Dilworth wrestlers competing in Senior Greco-Roman and Junior freestyle.

Debut heavyweight Marcus Carney had an excellent start to his wrestling career, taking the silver medal in the 120kg class & losing the final narrowly to NZ Commonwealth Games rep Sam Belkin (0,1) (0,2).

Clinton Davies continued on his successful Greco way adding the 84kg gold to the 74kg one. In his final he secured a win over club mate Craig Miller, who took out the silver.

In the Junior 74kg freestyle, Damen Beynon had four clear wins before losing a very close encounter in his final against an older Caylen Greenwood, taking home a silver.

Another silver went to Ali Mohammad in the 84kg class. After doing all of the attacking in his opening bout, Ali got caught & pinned. However, he came back strongly to take out his remaining matches & secured his medal.

At the Junior World Freestyle Championships held in Bucharest, Romania, Grizzlies wrestler, Faisal Attayee, had two bouts. In the first he met the favourite and the eventual gold medallist from Georgia, losing on points superiority. However, Faisal did attack his vastly more experienced opponent several times and did manage to take his leg. This was an achievement, considering the Russian silver medallist tried to do the same 3 times & failed, then got pinned.

Faisal's second bout was against the rugged Slovakian wrestler who had already defeated an Italian. Faisal again showed his willingness to attack & took the fight to his opponent. He again managed to take the legs & scored a control point after some alert scrambling.  Although losing on points, he did not look out of place in this company.

Although only a small group of Dilworth wrestlers travelled down to Katikati to compete in this event, those who went performed with distinction, winning the team title at Senior level.

Those who won their weight divisions were:

Seniors - Clinton Davies (84kg); Michael Kuypers (74kg); Nathan Clay (55kg)

Juniors - Nate Jones (74kg)

Cadets - Shahin Ariyazand (50kg)

The Auckland Grappling & Greco-Roman Championships have been postponed until September - date to be confirmed.

The main reason for the moving of this event is the pressure on officials due to a major event the previous day.

With the Oceanias in January, the new date should help competitors stay in shape over a quieter time of the year.

We have a very busy two months ahead for Dilworth wrestlers in international tournaments.

Shane Young, Will Rew & Josh Downes are all away with the NZ Secondary Schools' team to the DownUnder Tournament on the Gold Coast. They leave on the 6th  & return near the end of the following week.

From the 24th July until 1st August, Faisal Attayee and Iain Adamson (TeamLeader/Coach) will be in Bucharest, Romania, for the World Junior Freestyle Championships, where Faisal is competing in the 84kg division.

Faisal will then join fellow club members Clinton Davies, Craig Miller and Tayla Ford in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships from 5th - 7th August.

On 15th - 17th August, this event is closely followed by the Australia Cup international tournament, also in Melbourne, and Josh Downes will team up with Faisal, Clinton, Craig & Tayla for this competition. Also joining the team at the Australia Cup will be club coach Amir Bahrami.

Good luck to all Dilworth club members and to their fellow NZ team members who will be taking part in these events.

Despite the atrocious Auckland weather, grapplers and MMA practitioners from five Auckland clubs attended the first of Wrestling New Zealand's Wrestling for Grapplers clinics on Saturday 4th June at our club in Epsom.

After a brief slide show presentation of what was ahead, the very focussed group got busy for the next three and a half hours. Amongst the group was Dilworth School Wrestling Team captain, Shane Young, who also trains in Submission Grappling & MMA with the Ground Control club in Pakuranga.

The comments on the feedback forms filled in at the end of the day had several themes in common: " Great clinic and very useful"; "Give us more clinics"; "The techniques were great for gaining position."

Clinician Andrei Paulet (Dilworth Grizzlies & NZ international wrestling rep) also found the day enjoyable. He was impressed by the discipline shown and by the keenness to absorb the techniques he was teaching.

Wrestling New Zealand hopes to send Andrei and his clinic to other parts of the country in the near future, before a much demanded follow-up session in Auckland.

Last February we had a visit from Californian wrestler Jeremy Trinh and his parents who were visiting New Zealand for family weddings. Jeremy was keen to keep up his training whilst here and did some drilling & wrestling with Douglas Lloyd and Acoya Chant.

Whilst here at training he was clearly delighted to meet our own former Californian State Champ, now local yokel, Scott Boness.

It is pleasing to see that Jeremy came 2nd in the State Greco Champs at the end of April. This was his first foray into Greco.

 He is now training for the State freestyle champs in June & looking forward to wrestling again in NZ one day. Everyone at Dilworth wishes him well.

Wrestlers from the Dilworth Grizzlies club have done particularly well in the 2011 secondary schools' events. This not only includes the team from Dilworth School, but also club members from other Auckland & Northland Schools.

Matthew Downes 50kg (Mt Albert GS), Coen Beynon 69kg (Dargaville HS), Justin Briggs 76kg (Kelston BHS), Israel Shepherd 85kg (Kelston) & Deon Mau'u 100kg (Dilworth) all took gold medals in the Junior section of the Auckland SS Champs, with Shane Young 76kg (Dilworth) & Kitiona Ashby-Leota 120kg (Kelston) winning gold in the Senior section. Shane also won the Most Scientific Wrestler Award, with Joshua Downes (Mt Albert GS), 2nd in the same weight class, earning the trophy for Sportsmanship.

At the North Island SS Champs, Junior golds were won by Matthew Downes 54kg (Mt Albert GS), Justin Briggs 76kg (Kelston BHS), Israel Shepherd 85kg (Kelston), Deon Mau'u 100kg (Dilworth) & Phillip Fepuleai-Tapua'a. In the Senior section they went to Shane Young 69kg (Dilworth), Joe Key 97kg (Dilworth) & Kitiona Ashby-Leota 120kg (Kelston). Tim Rew (Dilworth) won the Sportsmanship award and Dilworth took out the Champion Boys Team title.

The final schools' event of the season was the NZSS Champs in Hamilton. Grizzlies members again had a great tournament. Gold went to Douglas Lloyd 42kg (Dilworth), Acoya Chant (46kg) Birkenhead), Shahin Ariyazand 50kg (Dilworth), Coen Beynon 69kg (Dargaville HS), Justin Briggs 76kg (Kelston BHS), Israel Shepherd 85kg (Kelston) & Deon Mau'u 100kg (Dilworth). In the Seniors, gold medal winners were Will Rew 69kg (Dilworth) & Josh Silbury-Martin 85kg (Kelston). Dilworth again took out the Champion Boys Team title.

Check the High Schools results section for a full list of medal winners.

The New Zealand team's results in the Greco-Roman events held at the Oceania Championships in Samoa are as follows:

Seniors

120kg: Marshall Gibson - bronze

84kg: Faisal Attayee - silver

74kg: Clinton Davies - silver; Alex Rangi - bronze

60kg: Brook White - silver

Juniors

120kg: Marshall Gibson - bronze

84kg: Faisal Attayee - gold  

Cadets

76kg: Damen Beynon - gold; Josh Downes - bronze

 OPENING REPORT FROM THE SAMOA OBSERVER

In time the Kiwi wrestlers at the Oceania will come to know of someone affected by the earthquake in Christchurch. Two of them, Alex Rangi and Tayla Ford, come from the city.

Both had left to come to Samoa for the Oceania before the earthquake struck.
“So they were in the air when it happened,” said coach Mark Grayling.

The wrestlers rang their parents, said Grayling.
The parents live on the fringes of the damaged area and are alright, he said.

Sympathies were expressed to the Kiwi wrestlers at the opening of the SIFA Oceania & South Pacific Wrestling Championships yesterday.

In the prayer service Rev. Dr. Siaosi Salesulu said "Our prayers and thoughts are with the people of Christchurch in their time of tragedy and despair."

Rev. Salesulu referred to the fragility of human beings to the forces of nature.

Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork, President of Samoa Wrestling Association said, “We remember today with much sadness our friends from New Zealand and the terrible tragedy. Our hearts and prayers are with them.”

“It was touching,” said Grayling.
“I had a tear in my eye,” he said.

The Kiwi coach was not surprised by the sympathy expressed.
“No,” he said, “We’ve just got a strong bond.”

The ties between the two countries occur at many levels, said Grayling.
Wrestling results as of 2pm, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011.

Congratulations to former Dilworth wrestler David Aloua who won his professional boxing debut on the undercard to the Sonny Bill Williams fight on 29th January.

David began wrestling in 1999 and was Auckland and New Zealand Secondary Schools Wrestling Champion in 2002.

In 2010 he represented New Zealand in boxing at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. David was eliminated from the 91kg division under extremely controversial circumstances. The bout was stopped because of his bleeding nose with only 40 seconds remaining in the final round and David ahead 7 - 5.

In early 2011 he  moved over to Sydney to train under the Mundine banner for his first pro bout, in which he looked sharp and won by a knockout.

The following wrestlers have been selected to represent NZ at this year's Oceania Championships in Samoa from the 22nd- 25th February.

Seniors: Craig Miller - 96kg (Dilworth), Clinton Davies - 74kg (Dilworth), Cameron MacGregor - 74kg (Tawa), Brook White - 60kg (Katikati) Juniors: Marshall Gibson - 120kg (Mt Maunganui), Faisal Attayee - 84kg (Dilworth), Caylen Greenwood - 74kg (Katikati), Alex Rangi - 74kg (Dilworth), Glen Lambert - 66kg (Katikati) Cadets: Joshua Downes - 76kg (Dilworth), Damen Beynon - 76kg (Dilworth), Jordan Mellars - 69kg (Tawa) and the sole female, Tayla Ford - 63kg (Dilworth).

The Team Leader is Tony Clark (Katikati) and the coach is Mark Grayling (Mt Maunganui).

Also taking part in the tournament will be referee Malcolm McBeth (Hamilton) and pairmasters Janet Sinclair (Counties-Hunua) and Leslie Lambert (Katikati).

Dilworth training for 2011 is well underway for Cadets (14-16), Juniors (17-29) and Seniors. The younger wrestlers will be starting up on Mondays at 5.30pm late in February.

Basic training evenings are Mondays and Thursdays from 6.30pm.

Check out the brackets & results at

 http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/

Although only 11 of our wrestlers managed to travel south to Dunedin for the Nationals, we did manage a haul of 17 medals, 11 of them Golds, which is an excellent overall tally.

 In addition,  we won the Smale-Humphries Shield (Top Senior Club) & the Ernie Scott Trophy (Top Greco-Roman Club).

Individual trophy winners were Clinton Davies - the AICHI 7th Asia-Oceania Wrestling Cup Greco-Roman (Best Performance Greco-Roman) & Tayla Ford - the Ripia Shield (Most Scientific Female).

Medal Winners:

Gold - Jatinder Sandhu (Senior 96kg f/s); Faisal Attayee (Senior & Junior 84kg f/s); Craig Miller (Senior 96kg G-R); Clinton Davies (Senior 84kg & 74kg G-R); Tayla Ford (Senior & Junior 67kg female); Damen Beynon (Cadet 76kg); Alex Rangi (Junior 75kg Grappling Gi); Tayla Ford (Junior 65kg Grappling No Gi).

Silver - Clinton Davies (Senior 74kg f/s); Faisal Attayee (Senior 84kg G-R).

Bronze - Craig Miller (Senior 96kg f/s); Andrew Sims (Senior 84kg G-R); Joshua Downes (Cadet 69kg); Alex Rangi (Senior 75kg Grappling Gi).

The final local tournament of the year took place on Saturday 18th September in the Kelston gym, christening the new Kelston mat at its first event. We had a solid Dilworth turnout, although only 4 of our wrestlers going to Nationals took part.

Joshua Silbury-Martin stepped up both in weight division & in age group to win the Junior Heavyweight class. He showed grit in defeating Patrick Schischka (Club Physical) on points in his final bout.

Michael Kuypers continued with his successful first competitive season to win the Junior 74kg division.

Other winners on the day included Clinton Davies in the Senior 74kg, who was given a couple of wake-up calls by Souk Thongsinh & Junior Shane Andrew (Counties-Hunua), Steve Robinson making a sooner than anticipated return to competition at 84kg and another surprise returnee in former Kelston star Som Sok (Senior 66kg).

Douglas Lloyd (38kg) was a should-be winner  who slipped into 2nd place in the Under 14 age group. Douglas won his first round comfortably 4-0 against the talented Brahm Richards (Club Physical), but a lapse of concentration saw him thrown onto his back & pinned in round 2.

Others to perform well in the same age group were Acoya Chant (47kg) and Matthew Downes in his first ever tournament. Both came 2nd, but had their chances to win. Matthew showed that he clearly has the same determination as older brother Josh.

The final two NZ wrestlers to take to the mat were Andrei Paulet (66kg) & Nick Lane (120kg). Andrei met Omar Abdou (Egypt) & lost by Superiority 0-8, 0-6.

Nick wrestled Les Sigman (USA) & lost by a fall in the first round.

 From a Commonwealth perspective, the 66kg weight is very strong, with Olympic Bronze medalist Sushil Kumar (India) winning Gold, Haislan Veranes Garcia (Canada) 5th and Heinrich Barnes (South Africa) 7th.

Stephen Hill (84kg) drew the eventual Gold medallist Mihail Ganev (Bulgaria) and lost what seems to have been a tight tussle 0-4, 0-3. He then went through to the repechage where he faced Piotr Ianulov (Moldova), losing by superiority 0-6, 0-7. Ianulov finished in 5th place

The final two NZ wrestlers to take to the mat are Andrei Paulet (66kg) & Nick Lane (120kg). Andrei is drawn to meet Omar Abdou (Egypt) & Nick has Les Sigman (USA).

Sian Law was first up for NZ at the 2010 World Champs in Moscow. Competing in the 55kg weight class, she met the eventual Silver medalist, Yuliya Ratkevich from Azerbayjan, going down 0-4, 0-4 to a fall in the second round.

Because she had lost to a finalist, Sian came back in to the repechages, where she met Aiym Adildina (Kazahkstan), losing 0-4 to a fall in the first round.

Getting two bouts at this level was valuable preparation for Sian in her build-up to the Commonwealth Games.

Next up is Stephen Hill (84kg) who is drawn to wrestle Mihail Ganev (Bulgaria).

New Zealand currently have four senior freestyle wrestlers attending the World Championships in Moscow with NZ coach Mark Grayling (Mt Maunganui).

 The wrestlers competing this week are Sian Law (55kg - Tawa), Andrei Paulet (66kg - Dilworth), Stephen Hill (84kg - Rangiora) & Nick Lane (120kg - Tawa).

Sian will be the first to compete & has drawn Yuliya Ratkevich from Azerbayjan.

Two of the Aussie Greco-Roman wrestlers have turned in creditable performances. Hassan Shahsavan (74kg) lost to Konstantin Schneider (Germany) 0-1, 0-1: Ivan Popov (120kg) went down just as narrowly to the highly experienced American Dremiel Byers 0-1, 0-1.

 Updates will follow as results come to hand.

• Tayla Ford, accompanied by coach Olena Bondarenko, ended up being New Zealand's only Wrestling representative at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
• The YOG went from the 14th to the 27th August, with the Wrestling events, Male Freestyle, Greco-Roman & Female Freestyle, on in the early days of the Games. Tayla qualified in the Female 60kg weight class.
• In her first match her opponent was the eventual Youth Olympic Champion Baatarzo Baansenseg from Mongolia (where Wrestling is the National Sport). The first round score was 0-1 & the second round score 0-2. It was clearly a very close bout and the Mongolian scored fewer points on Tayla than on the Indian, Dhanda Pooja, in the Gold medal match where she scored 5 points over the Indian girl.

• Tayla's second match, only 30 minutes after the first, was against the Youth Olympic Bronze Medallist from Russia, Svetlana Lipatova, who was coming in fresh after previously having the bye.The bout went for two rounds & Tayla lost by a creditable 0-4, 0-4. By the end of this match, Tayla's muscles "felt like jelly" - she was, not surprisingly, feeling tired.

• In her third match she met the girl from Nigeria, Christiana Vicdor, who had also previously had the bye, and lost another close affair 0-3, 0-3 against the fresher wrestler.

• Next up was an opponent from Guinea. This bout was shown on NZ television and Tayla won by a fall in the first 25 seconds.

• Her final wrestle was against the girl from the host nation, Singapore. Tayla won a good match in two rounds 4-0, 4-0.

• Clearly, Tayla performed extremely well in her first major international event and is one step closer to her longer term goal of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics.

Andrei Paulet (66kg) finished 5th in a field of 17, behind a Russian, 2 Canadians and a German. He lost to the Russian gold medallist and did not look out of place in this company.The Russian has previously placed 2nd in the World Champs. First up, he defeated Younes Yari (GB) 3,0; 4,0, then lost to G. Macomedmurad 7,0; 7,0. In the repechage, he defeated Brett Hawthorn (GB) 1,5; 5,0; 6,3 then lost to Sascha Buchner (GERM) 0,1; 0,5 in the bout for bronze.

Aussie rival Mehrdad Tarash finished 8th.

Steve Hill (84kg) finished 7th of 15, behind 2 Latvians, 2 Belarusians, an Israeli and a Swiss. He beat his Aussie rival Gene Kapaufs during the tournament in another tight 3 round battle 3,2; 0,2; 3,3. In the next round he lost to Gregory Martinetti (SUI) by a fall.

Matthew Miller (CAN) finished 8th, & Kapaufs 9th.

Aaron Quinlan (96kg) was suffering from an illness before the event even began, finishing 9th of 13. He post to bronze medallist Aliaksi Dubko (BLR) 0,6; 1,7.

Nick Lane (120kg) lost to Denis Shumilin, the gold medallist from GB, 0,6; 0,4. Unfortunately, he pulled a muscle during this bout and was unable to take part in the wrestle-off for bronze, losing by injury forfeit to Vartan Apparian (Cyp) and finishing 5th.

Sian Law (55kg female) took her Polish opponent, Syvia Bujak,  to overtime in two rounds of their match, but lost the clinch on each occasion, going down by the narrowest of margins 0,1; 0,1.

Apart from the unwell Aaron Quinlan, all athletes showed an improvement from last week's event in Spain.

The following countries have confirmed their entries for the Great Britain Cup:

New Zealand has five wrestlers entered in this tournament: Nick Lane (120kg), Aaron Quinlan(96kg), Steve Hill (84kg), Andrei Paulet (66kg) and female Sian Law (51kg). 

"The GB Cup is popular with wrestlers worldwide, and a big tournament for our own competitors," said GB Wrestling chairman Malcolm Morley.

The tournament will be held at Ponds Forge, Sheffield on 16-17 July.

British wrestling has enjoyed some success in recent months with Ukrainian-born Yana Stadnik, 22, winning silver in the women's 48kg category at the 2010 European Championships.

"Our wrestlers, such as Yana, and Leon Rattigan (96kg), have been doing really well in international competitions, and competing against the very best in front of a home crowd will be a great experience," added Morley.

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.

The Alton Wrestling Club hosted an excellent event at the new TSBHub complex in Hawera on 25 - 26 June. Dilworth took down 15 wrestlers who competed with distinction. Whilst the number of entries in Grappling was disappointing, there was some strong competition in the Freestyle.

Freestyle Results

With this June 13th tournament being in our home gym, not surprisingly, we had a large club turnout contributing to the 100 plus entries. Even with several top wrestlers unavailable, we still put up a strong performance, winning 14 golds, 7 silver and 4 bronze.

In addition to ourselves, clubs in attendance were Mt Maunganui, Katikati Wildkats, Hamilton Hawks, Counties-Hunua, Club Physical and North City Silverbacks.

Grizzlies Medal Winners:

Gold - Craig Miller (120kg Snr), Jeetu Sandhu (96kg Snr), Faisal Attayee (84kg Snr/Jnr), Clinton Davies (74kg Snr); Shin Kumazaki (120kg Jnr), Ahmad Elhajj (74kg Jnr); Kitiona Ashby-Leota (100+ Cad), Chris Kuypers (100kg Cad), Josh Silbury-Martin (85kg Cad), Justin Briggs (76kg Cad); Alex Kerehana (72kg Mini), Tom Bowman (47kg Mini), Douglas Lloyd (42kg Mini)

Silver - Aaron Henry (84kg Snr), Souk Thongsinh (74kg Snr), Monica Hill (60kg Snr/Jnr Female), Damen Beynon (76kg Cad), Coen Beynon (69kg Cad), Acoya Chant (53kg Mini)

Bronze - Dan Hayman (96kg Snr), Richard Beaumont (74kg Snr), Hemi Kaka (53kg Mini), Te Aue Kaka (47kg Mini)

 The Most Scientific Wrestler Awards went to:

Senior - Jeetu Sandhu (Dilworth); Junior - Ahmad Elhajj (Dilworth); Cadet - Koria Pouri-Lane (Hamilton); Mini - Brahm Richards (Club Physical)

Despite some withdrawals from the original line-up, New Zealand had a successful venture across the Tasman to the Australia Cup in Melbourne, securing 8 hard-earned medals.

The team was made to feel very welcome by the hosting United Club, and others from the Australian Wrestling fraternity.

All of the wrestlers performed creditably and made positive steps in their development.

Results:

Males: Nick Lane - 120kg (Tawa) silver, Aaron Quinlan - 96kg (Hamilton) gold, Jatinder Sandhu - 96kg (Dilworth) 4th, Andrei Paulet - 66kg (Dilworth) bronze; Florian Rades - 84kg Junior (Combat Sports) bronze; Florian Rades - 84kg Junior Greco - bronze

Females: Sian Law - 55kg (Tawa) silver; Jessica Todd - 63kg  Senior (Combat Sports) gold; Jessica Todd - 63kg  Junior - gold

Joe Merrall (84kg Dilworth) also competed well, taking points and rounds off his opponents, before an injury forced his withdrawal.

Team Leader: Iain Adamson (Dilworth); Coaches: Mark Grayling (Mt Maunganui), Graeme Hawkins (Tawa), Alan Rolton (Combat Sports).

Other members of the NZ delegation were Brian & Val Stannett, Mehdi Mehrabi, pairmaster Janet Sinclair & referee Wayne Thurston.

A big contingent of Grizzlies turned out for the Waikato Champs held at Fairfield College in Hamilton on Sunday 2nd April.

Tom Bowman was our only Mini (10 - 13), but he led the way for the rest of the team with a Gold in his weight group. At the other end of the age range, our Seniors won three of the four weight groups contested.

Placegetters:

1st - (Seniors) Jeetu Sandhu, Mehdi Mehrabi, Clinton Davies; (Juniors) Shin Kumazaki, Sonid Tim; (Cadets) Joseph Ashby-Leota, Joshua Silbury-Martin, Damen Beynon; (Mini) Tom Bowman

2nd - (Juniors) Corban Shepherd,  Michael Kuypers; (Cadets) Chris Kuypers, Justin Briggs, Nori O Lee, Coen Beynon

3rd - (Seniors) Joe Merrall; (Cadets) Kitiona Ashby-Leota, Joshua Downes

A number of NZ wrestlers, including several Commonwealth Games hopefuls, will be heading over to Melbourne to compete in the Australia Cup tournament in May.

This event will take place on the 22nd & 23rd of May at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

 Those going are:

Males: Nick Lane - 120kg (Tawa), Aaron Quinlan - 96kg (Hamilton), Jatinder Sandhu - 96kg (Dilworth), Joe Merrall - 84kg (Dilworth), Mehdi Mehrabi - 74kg (Dilworth), Clinton Davies - 74kg (Dilworth), Andrei Paulet - 66kg (Dilworth); Florian Rades - 84kg Junior (Combat Sports)

Females: Sian Law - 51kg (Tawa); Jessica Todd - 63kg  Junior (Combat Sports)

Team Leader: Iain Adamson (Dilworth); Coaches: Mark Grayling (Mt Maunganui), Alan Rolton (Combat Sports).

The five Dilworth wrestlers who attended the Oceania Champs in Samoa returned with the following results:

Andrei Paulet - Gold Under 74kg Beach wrestling; silver 66kg Senior Freestyle

Clinton Davies - Bronze 74kg Senior Freestyle

Faisal Attayee - Gold 84kg Junior Greco; bronze 84kg Junior Freestyle

Tayla Ford - Gold Cadet Female 60kg

Alex Rangi - Bronze Junior 74kg Freestyle

In addition, Tayla won selection to represent NZ and Oceania at the Youth Olympic Games.

Several Dilworth Grizzlies wrestlers are part of the New Zealand team competing in the 2010 Oceania Championships held in Samoa from 7th - 9th April.

 Commonwealth Games hopefuls Andrei Paulet (66kg) and Clinton Davies (74kg) are taking part in the Senior division. Andrei will compete in Freestyle, whilst Clinton will take part in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Current NZ Junior 96kg Freestyle & Greco Champion, Faisal Attayee, is also a part of the team. Faisal will compete in both disciplines at 84kg.

2009 Cadet 76kg Champion Alex Rangi, and Cadet 62kg Female Champion Tayla Ford, will take part in the Junior competition, both hoping to earn selection for the Youth Olympic Games to be held later this year in Singapore. Damen Beynon was also selected to compete in the hope of Youth Olympics selection, but the untimely need for the removal of his appendix has put paid to Damen's opportunity.

The South Pacific Games were held in Samoa early in September and Samoan representative Faafetai Iutana, who trains at the Dilworth Club, won silver medals in both the 96kg freestyle and the 96kg Greco-Roman events.

Faafetai represented Samoa at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Greco-Roman and at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games in freestyle.