TT trio captured three medals at the Beach Wrestling Tournament hosted by the Barbados Wrestling Association at Brandon`s Beach, St Michael, Barbados on Saturday.
Claiming the gold medal for TT was Che`Don Grant in the Boys` U-12 category, winning the final against Barbadian Zachary Maynard. After his fight, Grant said, “It was a good experience, but a bit challenging, I thought it would have been easier. I won my first fight and the second fight I got a little too overconfident which caused me to lose. Then, I won the third fight to bring home a medal for Trinidad & Tobago.”
The 11-year-old student of Pointe a Pierre Government Primary school added, “This medal will make my wrestling career even better. I will train even harder and then one day I will be a champion.”
The crowd favourite of the tournament was bronze medallist Renee Fortune in the Mixed U-16 category. The 12-year-old was the youngest in her category but was a fierce competitor, especially against her male counterparts.
The Pleasantville Secondary pupil said, “My preparation for this tournament was only two months. There were more challenges than I expected but I conquered them. In my first round, I didn’t go all out because I was taking my time.”
Already looking ahead to the future, she said, “I would have to train harder, lift more weights and condition myself better so I wouldn’t be heavy-breathing. I will be fitter and learn more techniques. This competition was beneficial because it gave me a chance to see the things that needed improvement.”
TT`s Seon Adhar was outclassed in the 70kg Men Open final by Barbadian Lemar Tull. Adhar who is also a debutant in beach wrestling vowed to learn from his experience at the tournament. Adhar is new to beach wrestling but is a two-time Mixed Martial Arts champion and Pan-American double gold medallist in Sambo. Recapping the final against Tull, he said, “It was lack of experience on my part and Tull was a bit stronger but I`m excited to return to the competition to win the gold medal.”
All the athletes are from the Southern Warriors of Mixed Martial Arts Gym and Combat training Facility in Marabella under the guidance of Kerry Grant.
An elated Coach Grant said, “The last two months were hard; I really pushed them because we were going into uncharted waters, so history was created.” He added, “The rules system is totally different to the combat sports, so it was challenging to adapt but the athletes executed well. We are going to improve on our skill sets and techniques and next time we will be returning to totally dominate this competition.”
Grant was full of praise for the organisers and promises that TT will have an even larger contingent next year.
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