South Africa - Wrestling in the NEWS
Willem Putter-( Manager), Shaun Williams ( 55kg. -Bronze Medalist) and Bennie Labuschange ( 74 kg.)
African wrestling champs in city
Pretoria News - South Africa
May 10, 2006 Edition
Some top Olympic wrestlers will be in action in the city this weekend when more than 140 wrestlers from 14 countries participate in the African Championships.
The four-day tournament will start at the Portuguese Hall in Pretoria West tomorrow. The first two days will see competition in the Greco Roman style leading up to Olympic Freestyle competition on the Saturday and Sunday.
Karam Gaber, who won the gold medal in the 97kg division at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and was subsequently singled out as the best wrestler at the Games. The 26-year old Gaber will lead a strong contingent of 21 Egyptian wrestlers who are determined to defend the team titles they won in both the Freestyle and Greco Roman categories at last year's championships in Morocco.
South Africa's best medal hope rests on Richard Addinall (74kg), the only local wrestler who will compete in both the Freestyle and Greco Roman styles. The 23-year old from Boksburg was South Africa's only entry at the 2005 World Championships.
The South African freestyle team includes a number of young wrestlers who will all make their debut in the senior ranks. They include Pretoria schoolboy, Pieter-Hendrik van der Schyf (55kg) and his teammates from the Tuks Wrestling Academy, Neels de Jager (60kg), Heinrich Barnes (66kg) and Etienne van Huysteen (97kg). The 19-year old Barnes, currently on a wrestling scholarship in America, won a credible 8th place at last year's World Junior Championships. - Sports Reporter
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Willem Putter wins 2004 World Masters Wrestling Championships
Monday, September 13, 2004
Six South African wrestlers participated at the World Masters Championships in Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic this past weekend and will come home with a gold, a silver and a bronze medal.
Willem Putter won his 4th world title this year at 85kg. Willem also won gold medals at the World Master Championships from 1999 to 2002 (he did not participate in the last 2 years).
Putter, has just returned from Athens where he served as the South African Olympic wrestling coach and then participated at 2004 World Masters Wrestling Championships.
Former Springbok wrestler, Bennie Labuschagne, took part in his first masters competition and earned himself a very good 2nd place. Bennie lost his final match 5 to 4 points against a wrestler of Iran in extra time. Labuschagne who competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is still a regular competitor at senior events in South Africa and Europe.
The South African team consisted of:
Roland Booth (Gauteng-North) - 69kg Kat A - Placed 10th
Bennie Labuschagne (Gauteng-North) - 76kg Kat A - SILVER
Francois Pienaar (Gauteng-North) - 85kg Kat B - placed 5th
Willem Putter 85kg (Gauteng-North) - Kat C - GOLD
Reginald Holder (Western Province) - 130kg Kat C - placed 5th
Clifford Etzebeth (Western Province) - 130kg Kat D - BRONZE
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17 June 2004
SHAUN WILLIAMS’S ROAD TO THE OLYMPICS
Shaun Williams the only South African Wrestler who qualified for the Olympic Games in Athens is very serious in his preparation for Athens. As part of his preparation he took part in the German Grand Prix. After winning 4 of his 7 matches he was places 4th of the 11 wrestlers in the 55g weight category.
Willem Putter who acts as his coach and manager during his preparation, is very pleased with the performance, since it was the first time that a South African wrestler managed to win a match at this specific tournament.
On the first day of the tournament, Shaun won 3 German wrestlers before they could even score a point , C Ewald (10-0), J Wensch (9-0) and K Wedekind (10-0) and also won T. Sedmeuer of Germany (8-6). He lost matches against the 2003 World Champion Abdullayev from Azerbaijan and the gold medal winner of the tournament, G Tanebe of Japan. On the second day he lost (4-1) against V. Zeiher of the German team, previously from Russia.
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SPORT AND RECREATION SOUTH AFRICA DONATES WRESTLING MATS TO DISABLED WRESTLERS
June 29, 2004 ....... by-.Marga Odendaal
Ms. Rita Horn (Sport and Recreation South Africa) and Mr. Dave van der Merwe (SA Wrestling Federation) presented two wrestling mats to Boland Wrestling Association. It was done during the Sarel Smit Open Championships at Malmesburg. Sport and Recreation South Africa donated funds to the SA Wrestling Federation for disabled wrestlers. The SAWF decided to buy 2 wrestling mats for use by Pioneer visually- and hearing impeded school in Worchester.
Wrestling is one of the sport codes at the the Pioneer School for visually- and hearing impeded children. Jacques Richard, a parent at the school, is currently the coach of the 25 members of the wrestling club at the school.
A gold medal winner at the Sarel Smit Open Championship, Leon Maloi (16) is involved for 3 years already as a wrestler and a junior coach. Leon, a visually impeded wrestler, won his category by winning wrestlers with normal vision. He believes that by taking part in wrestling was a great contributor towards his good self image. According to him, it is possible for any disabled person to achieve his own goals in a sports code that is compatible to the specific disability.
SA - JUNIOR WRESTLERS COMING BACK FROM TUNISIA WITH 10 MEDALS
The President of the South African Wrestling Federation, Dave van der Merwe, invites you to come and meet the members of the SA Junior wrestling team who competed in the first ever African Junior Championship. Ten of the fourteen wrestlers earned medals at the African Junior Championships that was held in Tunisia from 25-27 June.
The Freestyle team was ranked overall in the second place after Tunisia. This was earned with gold medals for Johan Booyens (Gauteng East), Jacques Rossouw (Gauteng North), Hennie Gerber (Gauteng North) and Kappe Venter (North West Province). As well as the silver medal of Beau Booysen (Griquland West) and the bronze medal of Andre Meiring (Sedibeng)
The Greco-Roman team was also ranked second in the place in the team competition. Silver medals were earned by Heinrich Olwagen (Gauteng North), Charl van der Merwe (Western Province), Hennie Gerber (Gauten North) and Kappie Venter (North West Province). Andre Meiring received a bronze medal. Harrison de Wee (Griqualand West) and Johan Booyens was both ranked fourth.
In the Feminine competition Magdeleine van As (North WestProvince) was ranked in the fourth place
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SA Olympic wrestler dies
News24, South Africa - 16 Jun 2004
Johannesburg - Blondie Pienaar, who represented South Africa as a wrestler at the 1952 Olympic Games in ... Pienaar was an icon in South African wrestling - one of ...
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THREE GOLD AND A SILVER WRESTLING MEDALS FOR GAUTENG NORTH AT INTERNATIONAL CADETS TOURNAMENT IN FRANCE ( June 24, 2003 - News)
Gauteng North Wrestling welcomes back their wrestlers that participated in an International Cadets tournament in Saint-Priest in France on 13 and 14 June. Seventeen countries took part in the tournament, including top wrestling countries like Russia, Turkey, the USA and Germany. The South African team proudly took second places in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman styles, with 5 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals in total.
Gauteng North contributed to this achievement with the following medals in the Freestyle competition: The gold medals of Pieter-Hendrik van der Schyf (MSA), Hennie Gerber (Centurion) and Jarred Pretorius (Reitz) and a silver medal for Jacques Rossouw (Centurion). Bernard Mostert and Roelf Odendaal both of MSA was also part of the Freestyle team and gained valuable experience to the benefit of other wrestlers in the Association.
SA wrestlers bag 14 medals in Cairo
Business Day, South Africa - 21 hours ago (MAY 23, 2003)
South Africa's amateur wrestling team exceeded all expectations at the Olympic qualifying
round in Cairo when they bagged a staggering 14 medals including four ...
Russian boost for SA wrestlers in Manchester
| July 11 2002 at 08:14PM
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| By Mark Beer |
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The wrestling tournament at this month's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, will be akin to a game of Russian roulette.
But the two-man South African team of Bennie Labuschagne and Shaun Williams will be better armed than most.
You see, Labuschagne, who will grapple in the 74kg division at the Games, and Williams (55kg), recently returned from an intensive training camp in Dagastan, Russia, where they spent 10 days at the Russian Olympic Training School.
The trip was organised by Willem Putter, the code manager for Manchester, who only last year retired from international competition.
"I got in touch with the Russian head coach and he was only too happy to have us," said Putter, who is confident that the roulette wheel that is the Games draw will favour his charges.
"Obviously, in wrestling it is very much a lottery because it does not work on rankings," said Putter, "and the draw might throw you in against the world No 1. But that is out of our hands, so we have concentrated on preparing as well as we possibly can."
Their Russian trip was funded by the SA Department of Sport, the Russian wrestling federation and some local sponsors, and the lads could not have hoped for better Games preparation.
"Bennie and Shaun took part in a couple of informal competitions and did rather well," said Putter.
"But the point of the exercise was to learn, and the guys learned a heck of a lot from the Russians, who are among the top three wrestling nations in the world at the moment."
Russia won't be at the Games, where the manager expects the toughest opposition to come from the Canadians, Indians and English.
At 32, Labuschagne, who began wrestling when he was a toddler, has the international experience to take on allcomers. He is the most experienced active wrestler in the country at the moment and has been the national champion for a good number of years. He also has three African titles to his name.
Early in the year, he won a bronze medal at the British Open championships and recently won silver in the African championships, where he lost his final to an Egyptian. Egypt also won't be represented in Manchester.
Williams, who returned to his US base after the Russian trip to complete his studies, has also maintained his good form, competing twice-weekly on the Collegiate circuit.
"Sure, he's risking injury by competing so often," says Putter, "but I'd rather have my guys in tip-top condition physically and carrying a niggling injury than being out of shape."
Wrestling wasn't featured at the previous Games, in Kuala Lumpur four years ago, but in Victoria, Canada, in 1994, our five wrestlers came oh so close to medals with four fourth places and a fifth.
"I'm not predicting medals, but let's just say that Bennie and Shaun will make us all proud," said the manager.
