The 2018 World Wrestling Championships was held in Budapest, Hungary from October 21-27, 2018. The team comprising of Florian Temengil, Cristian Nicolescu, Jarvis Tarkong, Guy Delumeau and coach John Tarkong Jr.
The most exciting match was Temengil who was first to attack and score on his opponent Cartiel P. Muriel of Argentina. Temengil several points overall but Muriel came back late in the second period to score with a throw and upset to win the match by a fall with only 48 seconds left in the match. Eventually, Temengil ranked 18 out of 22 wrestlers. Although Temengil was expected to perform well, it was most unfortunate that he lost but after speaking with him, he gave it his best and although everything did not go as planned, we’re thankful for this opportunity to compete and represent Palau.
Other wrestlers that competed included Jarvis Tarkong who went against Pankaj R of India in the mens freestyle competition but lost by 10-0. Jarvis also wrestled in the Greco Roman Style against J. De Brito Ram (Brazil) but lost 10-0.
In the mens FS 74kg division, Guy Delumeau wrestled against Mostafa M. Hseeinkhani of Iran and fought hard but lost 10-0. It was a tough match against Iran who eventually ranked 13th and Delumeau 30th overall.
Unfortunately, Cristian Nicolscu was unable to compete in the mens freestyle 65kg division because the coach was not aware that it was mandatory for the coach to be present during the draw. It was most unfortunate and a lessoned learned, but very disappointing for our team and athlete who was not able to compete after training hard over the past 2 weeks. Tarkong realized that it was his fault and mistake for thinking the official would select the draw as it was done the day before. However, this was not the case and Tarkong deeply apologized to his athlete for his mistake and mentioned that without a doubt if Cristian had competed I’m sure he would have given his best performance at this event.
Overall, the World Championships had the best athletes in the world competing at this event and it was really tough and challenging for our athletes to compete at this level, but they gave it their best. On behalf of Palau’s wrestling team, we would like to thank United World Wrestling (UWW), the Palau National Olympic Committee (PNOC), our sponsors, our families, friends and everyone else that helped support our athletes and team to compete in this major event. In line with the upcoming qualifications and training preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games, our wrestling team will focus on returning back home and then see how we can best prepare, train and prepare for next year.
Last Modified on 21/02/2019 15:52