Romio Goliath of the After School Care Wrestling Centre (ASCWC) in Khomasdal won the Wrestler of the Year award following the National Wrestling Championships over the weekend.
The 14-year-old Goliath had a great year, during which he won two gold medals at the South African Championships, while he also collected the most points on the Namibian wrestling circuit, with 194 points.
The top five positions were all taken by wrestlers from the ASCWC, with Kevin Vleermuis coming second on 182 points, Marcellino Jaars third on 173 points, Efraim Thomas fourth on 161 points and Werner !Kharuxab fifth on 156 points.
Not surprisingly, the ASCWC won the Wrestling Club of the Year award, while Ben Truter won the Official of the Year award, Leonora Henning the Administrator of the Year award, and Windhoek Gymnasium the Wrestling School of the Year award.
Sem Shilimela won the Freestyle Senior Trophy of the year, while Werner !Kharuxab won the Greco Roman Over 15 Trophy of the Year.
The National Championships saw a turnout of about 80 wrestlers from four competing clubs – the ASCWC and the Alte Feste Wrestling Club in Windhoek, the Otjiwarongo Wrestling Club, and a new club from Karibib.
The National Championships concluded a successful year during which several other wrestlers excelled at the South African Championships.
At the SA Greco Roman Championships, Romio Goliath (U15) and Marcellino Jaars won gold medals, while Efraim Thomas (U15), Lourens van Schalkwyk (Cadets), Ingo Hokwana (Juniors) and Sem Shilimela (Seniors) won silver medals, and Kevin Vleermuis (U13), Werner !Kharuxab (Cadets) and Prinsley Swartz (Juniors) won bronze medals.
At the SA Youth and Junior Freestyle Championships Romio Goliath (U15) won a gold medal, while Kevin Vleermuis (U13) and Jason Afrikaner (Junior) won bronze medals.
The president of the Namibian Wrestling Federation Dawie Augustyn said the wrestling on display was of a high standard.
“The standard of wrestling was very high and wrestling is improving throughout Namibia. The After Care Centre once again won the trophy, but the Otjiwarongo Wrestling Club is getting stronger, while we also had a new club from Karibib competing this year,” he said.
Augustyn added that senior wrestlers Sem Shilimela and Angula Shikongo will once again join the High Performance Wrestling Centre in Dakar, Senegal after receiving bursaries from Olympic Solidarity to help prepare them for the 2016 Olympic Games.
“They don’t have any competition here in Namibia so the only way to prepare them for the 2016 Olympics is to provide them with stronger competition in Africa and Europe,” he said.
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