Wrestling magic made in Morocco
The cadets kicked off the campaign with an excellent performance, winning five gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals.
Four wrestlers from Brakpan Wrestling Club – Fernando Booysen, Jacques Kriel, Martin Eramsus and Cheyenne Smit – recently returned home after an extremely successful performance at this year’s Continental Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco.
The South African Wrestling Federation (SAWF) congratulated every athlete, coach and parent for the wrestlers’ achievements at the championships.
The cadets kicked off the campaign with an excellent performance, winning five gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals.
They also claimed the Freestyle Cadet Team Trophy.
Newcomer Booysen (u-42kg) opened the cadet freestyle medal count with a gold medal at his very first Continental Championships.
This was an exceptional performance, not only because it was his first African championship, but, at the age of 15 years, he was two years younger than both his opponents.
The next four gold medals came from the group of final-year cadets.
“These young wrestlers are building on an already strong youth and cadet foundation and it is looking good for them for next year when they will participate at junior level,” said team manager and SAWF marketing and media liaison officer Gussie Bartlett.
Brakpan’s Jacques Kriel (u-86kg) was one of those who picked up gold for South Africa.
Other first places came from Edrich Nortje (u-58kg), Francois Rossouw (u-69kg) and Ruan Botha (u-76kg).
Mika Lehmkuhl (u-50kg), Marco Viljoen (u-63kg) and Jaco le Roux (100kg) took home the silver medals in their freestyle categories.
Bronze medallists were Johny Smit (Greco-Roman u-58kg), Hennie Human (Greco-Roman u-50kg) and Jacques Ludik (freestyle u-46kg).
Three of the cadets were selected to participate in the More Than Medals Camp, which took place after the Cadet Championships in El Jadida at the newly opened Moroccan Olympic training facility.
The initiative, driven and organised by Aka Vincent, United World Wrestling (UWW) development officer for Africa, is aimed at developing young athletes from around the world into well-developed sportsmen and -women.
The camp not only focuses on performance on the mat, but also teaches them life skills that can be used off the mat as well.
Booysen, Nortje and Smit, just recently returned from the camp, together with their coach Reinhard Bosse, who successfully completed the UWW Level One coaches’ course, which is hosted in conjunction with the More Than Medals Camp.
As part of the camp, Booysen and Nortje were selected as part of Team Africa, who wrestled a duel against an Iranian cadet team as part of their preparation for an upcoming competition.
Nortje beat his Iranian competitor in the first round with a well-executed quarter nelson, but Booysen was beaten by his opponent in a hard-fought bout which went the full two rounds.
Not to be outdone by their younger team members, the junior team wrestled well during the Junior Championships, narrowly missing out on two or three gold medals in the finals.
They returned home with five silvers and a bronze, which is one of the better performances by a junior team in the past few years.
The medal winners are Reynhardt Louw (silver, freestyle u-55kg), Dylan Marais (silver, freestyle u-84kg), Judah de Beer (silver, freestyle u-96kg), Brandon Kidson (silver, Greco-Roman u-55kg) and Nico Fouche (silver, Greco-Roman u-96kg).
Brakpan’s Cheyenne Smit took bronze in the u-59kg in the female category.
The juniors also came home with a team trophy when they placed third overall for the Greco-Roman division.
The small SAWF senior team, with only three freestyle wrestlers, one Greco-Roman and one women’s entry, managed to achieve two medals in the freestyle division.
Hein Jansen van Rensburg (u-86kg) won a bronze medal and Brakpan’s Martin Erasmus (u-96kg) won a courageous silver medal against his Nigerian nemesis, who he beat in the 2015 Continental Championships and lost to at the All Africa Games later that year.
At 2-1, Erasmus definitely has a score to settle when the two meet again at the Commonwealth Championships later this year.
The team’s overall medal tally of 18 for the competition consists of five gold medals, nine silver medals and four bronze medals.
“We look forward to an even more successful championship in 2018,” added Bartlett.
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