The Senior World Championships(1st Olympic Qualification) took place in Instanbul, Turkey with over 900 competitors representing 104 countries with the intention to win the first qualification places for the 2012 London Olympic Games. In this qualification, the top 6 wrestlers in each weight class that will qualify in each Greco Roman and Freestyle places for both male and female wrestlers will take part in the Olympics. Among the countries competing in the championships from the Oceania region is American Samoa, Australia, Guam, FSM, Palau and Marshall Islands.
After 2 weeks of taking part in a Training Camp in Instanbul, Turkey, Elgin Elwais weighed in on Sunday, September 11, 2011, in the Greco Roman 55kg weight class. Out of 37 wrestlers in the GR 55kg weight class, Elwais competed on Monday against Van Bien Dong of Vietnam. During the 1st period of the match Elgin was able to stay toe to toe with his opponent as each tried to score a point during the match. At the end of 1 minute and 30 seconds, with a score of 0-0, Elgin went to the ground and had the advantage of trying to roll his opponent before the 30 second time would expire but as Elgin tried to roll his opponent, it was Dong who escaped to score 2 points on the reversal to win the 1st period of the match. During the 2nd period Dong was able to score 1 point on Elgin after both wrestlers battled and fell to the ground and Dong came behind with a lift to score a 3 point throw. At the end of 1:30 seconds Elgin went to the ground and Dong scored 2 points with a gut wrench (roll) and another point reversal to win the overall match. Although Elgin ranked 35 out of 37 wrestlers (Italy & Algeria), he looked very strong and performed well during the competition especially after overcoming a shoulder injury and operation earlier in the year. The overall winner in the GR 55kg weight class was Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan after defeating Elbek Tazhyieu of Belarus.
On Sunday, September 18, 2011, Florian Skilang Temengil (FS 120kg) of Palau wrestled Rusian Basiev of Armenia in the heavy weight division. During the 1st period of the match, Skilang shot in for a tackle but it was Basiev who defended well as both wrestlers fought it out during the 1st period. Basiev scored 2 points during the 1st period. In the second period of the Skilang was strong but Basiev scored a tackle on Skilang and rolled him to win the match. Basiev went on to wrestle Russia but lost in the semi-finals. Russia would win silver medal while Belarus won 1st place in the World Championships. Skilang would rank 28 out of 31 wrestlers.
In this World Championships, only the top 6 wrestlers qualified in this 1st Olympic Qualifier to go to London in 2012. All of the Oceania wrestlers that competed agreed that they would need to work harder and receive better training over the next few months leading into the 2012 Oceania Championships in January that will held in Sydney, Australia and also the 2012 Oceania Africa Olympic Qualifier and the other Olympic Qualification Tournaments in 2012.
Special thanks goes out to PNOC, FILA, and our main corporate sponsor WCTC for allowing our athletes the opportunity to train and compete in the 2011 World Championships.
Last Modified on 27/09/2011 18:14