Veterans battle in Bulgaria
Four veteran Brakpan Wrestling Club/Eastern Gauteng wrestlers proved that they are like a fine whiskey – they just get better with age.
The quartet of Jacques Meyer, Ben van Rooyen, Chris Sutton and Donovan Davel flew the Brakpan and South African flags high in freestyle wrestling at the Veteran World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria recently.
The wrestlers are all trained by coach Fred Nel at Brakpan Wrestling Club.
They were part of a contingent of 22 South African wrestlers who recently completed a successful trip by bringing back 22 medals in total for the country.
South Africa’s Willem Putter – in particular – was the standout performer.
He achieved an unprecedented double gold medal haul in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.
He became the first South African ever to win a gold medal in any age group in Greco-Roman wrestling.
The local wrestlers did not do themselves any injustices on the mat either.
Meyer (competing in category B, 100kg) earned a freestyle bronze medal in Bulgaria after an exciting and nail-biting match against Italy’s Igor Nencioni.
The final score was 4-4 with advantage to Meyer.
Ben van Rooyen (competing in category A, 100kg) only returned to the sport in March after playing rugby for some years after school.
The 38-year-old started wrestling at the age of five, but took a break after school to play rugby.
He is now enjoying being back on the mat.
Van Rooyen lost in a bronze medal clash against Yuliyan Georgiev from Bulgaria with a score of 2-12 and placed fifth overall in his category.
Coach Nel said van Rooyen should have won a bronze, but he unfortunately broke his hand in a bicycle accident in the lead-up to the championships which meant that he could not train for very long.
Sutton is another wrestler who could have performed much better according to Nel.
Sutton (competing in category D, 100kg) won a gold medal at last year’s champs in Poland, but an injury before the tournament this year greatly impacted his performance.
Nevertheless, the First team rugby coach at Hoërskool Dinamika in Alberton, still proved his power by winning a bronze medal.
He was defeated 4-8 by German wrestler, Detlef John, but emerged victorious in a tight match against Macedonia’s Angelof Trayan with a score of 4-4 with advantage to Sutton.
In another spectacular freestyle encounter Davel (competing in category A, 62kg) defeated Greek wrestler Arthourus Kalpatsanides with a score of 15-4 to win a bronze medal.
Davel earlier defeated the Hungarian Balazs Lazlo 11-0, but lost 1-4 against the eventual silver medallist, Viorel Etko, from Britain, in the final.
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