African C'Ships

Diatta Snags Eighth African Crown

Saturday, February 10, 2018 - 20:52 By Eric Olanowski

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PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (February 10) - Adama DIATTA (SEN) ventured to Port Harcourt with aspirations of capturing his eighth African title. The two-time Olympian outscored his opponents 21-3 on his way to his ninth finals.

In the 61kg finals, Diatta controlled Chedli METHLOUTHI (TUN) for the entire match, sealing his 5-2 victory late in the second period with an underhook throw by to a single leg.

At 57kg, three of the top-four placers from a year ago returned to this year’s African Championships. Ebikewenimo WELSON (NGR), the fourth-place finisher from a year ago and Jan Louwrens COMBRINCK (RSA) stopped Chakir ANSARI (MAR) and Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG) from making back-to-back finals.

In the finals, Combrinck found himself down 4-0 after giving up two early takedowns. He narrowed Welson’s lead to 4-2 after picking up a takedown of his own. Shortly after his first takedown, Combrinck picked up a throw and eventually stuck Welson late in the first period.

Amas DANIEL (NGR), Nigeria’s world team representative in 2010 snagged the 7-2 win over Haithem DAKHLAOUI (TUN), the 2017 African Championships fifth-place finisher after securing three takedowns and a point for a lost challenge in the 65kg finals. 

Reigning 70kg champion Ogbonna Emmanuel JOHN (NGR) thought his hopes for back-to-back titles were derailed after six minutes of wrestling. The scoreboard showed Amr HUSSEN’s (EGY) named underlined after a 2-2 battle, but that was incorrect. John scored a two-point move, and Hussen scored two one-point moves, which gave John the lead on criteria and his second African gold medal.

Ayoub BARRAJ (TUN), the African junior champion from a year ago picked up two one-point scores on the way to defeating Sami Hamdi AMINE (EGY) for the 74kg title. 

Moving to 79kg, Ekerekeme AGIOMOR (NGR) dominated the match from the first whistle. He took a 7-0 lead into the second period before picking up a pair of takedowns to defeat Fredylan George MARAIS (RSA), 11-0.

Melvin BIBO (NGR) improved on his 2017 African Championships third-place finish by not only making it to the finals but by picking up a 10-0 technical superiority victory over Hein Jakobus JANSE VAN RENSBURG (RSA) in the 86kg gold medal bout. 

Hosam Mohamed Mostafa MERGHANY (EGY) picked up the 3-0 win over Robert DAUFA’s (NGR) in the 92kg finals by snagging a shot clock point and picking up a takedown late in the second period.


Martin ERASMUS (RSA) did something that not a lot of people expected. He defeated the man who had ownership over the 97kg weight class for the last several years, Soso TAMARAU (NGR). In winning his first African gold medal, Erasmus denied the reigning champion from winning his third African championship. 

Concluding with 125kg, Khaled ABDALLA (EGY), African junior champion from a year ago held off two late flurries from Olympian and three-time African Champion, Sinivie BOLTIC (NGR) to win 2-1.

FINAL RESULTS

Men's Freestyle 

57kg
GOLD -  Jan Louwrens COMBRINCK (RSA) df. Ebikewenimo WELSON (NGR), via fall
BRONZE - Gamal Abdelnaser Hanafy MOHAMED (EGY) df. Chakir ANSARI (MAR) via dsq
BRONZE - Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG) df. Omar FAYE (SEN), 11-9

61kg
GOLD - Adama DIATTA (SEN) df. Chedli METHLOUTHI (TUN), 5-2
BRONZE - Firstman VICTOR (NGR) df. Gert Cornelius Johannes COETZEE (RSA), 7-5
 
65kg
GOLD - Amas DANIEL (NGR) df. Haithem DAKHLAOUI (TUN), 7-2
BRONZE - Reynhardt LOUW (RSA) df. Mbunde CUMBA MBALI (GBS), 12-10
BRONZE - Fares LAKEL (ALG) df. Sofiane EL KHAMER (MAR), vin
 
70kg
GOLD - Ogbonna Emmanuel JOHN (NGR) df. Amr Reda Ramadan HUSSEN (EGY), 2-2
BRONZE - Jean Bernard Diadia DIATTA (SEN) df. Tchani BAKI (BEN), 6-0
BRONZE - Chems Eddine BOUCHAIB (ALG) df. John Mburu KARIUKI (KEN), 10-0
 
74kg
GOLD - Ayoub BARRAJ (TUN) df. Sami Hamdi AMINE (EGY), 2-0
BRONZE - ALI Mustafa (SUD) df.. Chakir MOHAMED (MAR), 14-2

79kg
GOLD - Ekerekeme AGIOMOR (NGR) df. Fredylan George MARAIS (RSA), 11-0.
BRONZE - Francisco de Deus KADIMA (ANG) df. Augustine P Flomo (LBR), 10-0
BRONZE - Oussema RIGANI (MAR) df. Mark Omumasaba INGUYESI (KEN), 12-1

86kg
GOLD - Melvin BIBO (NGR) df. Hein Jakobus JANSE VAN RENSBURG (RSA), 10-0  
BRONZE - Imed KADDIDI (TUN) df. Assanti FRIDOUSSE (BEN), 10-0
BRONZE - BASHER Guma (SUD) df. Abdou LOUALI (NIG), vfo

92kg
GOLD - Hosam Mohamed Mostafa MERGHANY (EGY) df. Robert DAUFA (NGR), 3-0
BRONZE - John Odhiambo OMONDI (KEN) df. Eric W BORKUAH (LBR), 15-4
 
97kg
GOLD - Martin ERASMUS (RSA) df. Soso TAMARAU (NGR), 1-1.
BRONZE - Yvan Cedric NYAMSI TCHOUGA (CMR) df. Mohammed FARDJ (ALG), 1-1

125kg
GOLD - Khaled Omr Zaki Mohamed ABDALLA (EGY) df. Sinivie BOLTIC (NGR), 2-1
BRONZE - Clauds KOUAMEN MBIANGA (CMR) df. Adama TANGARA (CIV), 9-2

#WrestleAmman

Coles, Canada's first U17 world champ, wants to be an inspiration

Tuesday, December 17, 2024 - 15:38 By Vinay Siwach

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CANADA (December 16) -- "I am not a natural athlete." That's how Kaura COLES (CAN) describes herself. 

The 17-year-old seems to have as much clarity describing herself as she does wrestling on the mat.

She may not be the be a "natural", but she is the best in the world. At the U17 World Championships in Amman, Jordan, Coles became the first Canadian wrestler to win a gold medal. She won gold in the 53kg women's wrestling weight class.

But the odds did not favor Coles. No Canadian wrestler had reached the final at the U17 Worlds, forget winning gold. The last time Canada had a U20 or U17 world champ was in 2013. Coming into the tournament, Coles had a silver medal from the 2022 U17 Pan-Am Championships and a fifth-place finish at the Spain Grand Prix. 

So Coles wasn't favored to win a medal. Nor were the other seven Canadians entered. However, Coles did it. She was so precise in her wrestling, that her opponents were shocked to see her counter from negative positions.

Coles' win was one of the highlights of international wrestling in 2024 and a big boost for Canada and its wrestling after its medalless Olympics in Paris.

"I did not expect to do as well as I did,” she said later. “I can't predict the outcome of the match. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can every match."

In Amman, Coles began with two pins over Madkhiya USMANOV (KAZ) and Chloe BREWIS (RSA). She then went on to upset MUSKAN (IND) 12-3 in the quarterfinals, Isabelle GONZALES (USA) 8-3 in the semifinals and securing a fall in the finals against Nana KOZUKA (JPN), undeterred by names or a Japanese opponent.

Coles began wrestling when she was 11 years old when her father, Cory, took her to the gym because he did not want her to just sit around all day. Kaura is one of the 11 Coles siblings from Winnipeg. She is number six with five younger siblings and she coaches them as well.

"If you had watched me wrestling four years ago, you would have never thought I could have achieved anything. Worst wrestler by far," Coles told FloWrestling. "But I knew how to do a 2-on-1. So every match, every practice, I would be grabbing a 2-on-1. For six years I have been doing that and just developed and became very good from that position. [I do well] Tying up with people. I don't do well from space since I am a slow wrestler. I want to get an underhook or a 2-on-1."

She worked hard. Having wrestler siblings around her improved her as she had to keep up with the sibling rivalries growing in the house.

"I have to be a tough wrestler just to survive every day [with my brother]," she said. "But they all wrestled, my sisters wrestle too. Everyone works hard and it makes it a lot easier"

But in the beginning, Coles did not like the sport or working hard to be better at it.

“I did not like it at first because it’s a very hard sport," Coles told The Free Press. "Back then, I didn’t really like hard work because it’s hard to like that. But over time, I saw the benefits of putting in the hard work and seeing where it can get you."

Kaura COLES (CAN)Kaura COLES (CAN) defeated Nana KOZUKA (JPN) in the final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

So far, wrestling has made Coles a three-time national wrestling champion, U17 Pan-American silver medalist, North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) champion and of course, world champion.

But Coles wants to do more. As a Métis herself, she wants to inspire, coach, and promote Indigenous groups.

"I want to be an inspiration for the other Indigenous and Métis warriors in Canada," Coles said after winning the gold. "I don't wrestle for myself."

Coles' mother Michelle is a Métis, an Indigenous group in Canada, and has kept their culture in the house including learning French. Coles wore her Métis sash after the medal ceremony at the U17 Worlds.

"I wear my Métis sash whenever I can," she said. "I have other Indigenous people come up to me and tell me how I have inspired them. I'm so glad that I was able to represent."

Another one of Coles' is to be at the Olympics. Canada has won six medals at the Olympics in Women's Wrestling. But the last came in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"My goal is to go to the next Olympics when I'm 21 years old and then I want to go to the Olympics after that," she said. "Then I will retire."