Fernando’s first African wrestling experience

His father, Dirk Booysen, says Fernando’s exceptional performance can be attributed to his psychological control of practised techniques.

This Hoërskool Hugenote learner won both his u-42kg matches and added another gold medal to his collection.

During his first fight he almost lost his balance but regained his confidence to take control of the match.

“I grabbed my opponent’s leg and threw him over for a pin within 30 to 40 seconds of the first round,” says Fernando.

The Moroccan didn’t know what hit him when the young Springs teenager grabbed his legs and pinned him.

Fernando scored 4-0 points for this win.

The second game against a Tunisian went on for two full rounds of four minutes each.

Fernando says when the South African team was informed they were no longer allowed to make use of the quarter grip he knew he had to deal with his opponent in a totally different way to claim the win.

“He grabbed my arms several times to get me on my back, but I managed to throw him onto his back, which I thought was a fall, but in the second round I exercised the same technique and pinned him down,” he says.

Three of the participating cadets were selected to take part in the More Than Medals camp which took place in EL-Jedida after the cadet championships.

The initiative was organised by Aka Vincent, United World Wrestling development officer for Africa.

As part of the camp Fernando was selected to join Team Africa, which wrestled in a duel against an Iranian cadet team.

Fernando was beaten by his opponent.

“In found my opponent to be much stronger than me and I battled to take control of the fight and lost the fight which went on for two full rounds,” he says.

The teenager doesn’t see this as a setback but rather as a learning curve and a way of gaining experience.

“My first Africa experience is something I will treasure forever,” he says.