Wrestling

Sem Shilimela won the Senior Sportsman of the Year at the Namibian Wrestling Federation’s annual prizegiving function on Saturday, while Andre Augustyn won the Wrestler of the Year award.

Shilimela represented Namibia at the Olympic Games in London where he lost two bouts in the Under 55kg freestyle category.

In his first fight he lost 3-0 to the eventual gold medallist from Russia, Dzahmal Otarsultanov, and in his second fight he lost 3-1 to Kyong Il Yang of North Korea, who went on to win a bronze medal. Shilimela was eventually ranked 15th out of 19 wrestlers in his category.

None of Namibia’s four wrestlers who recently competed at an Olympic Games qualifying event in Finland managed to qualify for the London Olympics.

More than 500 wrestlers from 78 nations competed at the tournament which featured some of the world’s best wrestlers.

The president of the Namibia Wrestling Federation Dawie Augustyn said that the competition was very tough and despite the fact that none of Namibia’s wrestlers managed to qualify, they gained a lot of experience.

Namibia’s wrestlers achieved their best results at the South African Wrestling Championships in recent years, winning a total of 14 medals consisting of seven gold, four silver and three bronze medals.

On April 27, a Namibian team of 10 wrestlers won six gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the SA Youth Championships in Cape Town.

Ingo Hokwana, Jason Afrikaner and Lukas Thomas won gold medals in the Junior category; Colin Tjikungu won gold in the U15 category; and Romeo Goliath and Marcelino Jaars won gold medals in the Under 13 category.

Wrestler Sem Shilimela qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games when he won a silver medal at the Africa and Oceania Olympic Games Qualifying tournament in Marrakesh, Morocco.

It was a brilliant comeback by the 21 year old Shilimela who had earlier only managed a fourth place at the African Wrestling Championships at the same venue.

Competing in the Under 55kg freestyle category at the Olympic qualifiers, Shilimela won two fights to reach the final where he lost to an Egyptian opponent on points.

Dawid Henning of the Alte Feste Wrestling Club won the Wrestler of the Year award at the Namibia Wrestling Federation’s annual prize giving function on Saturday.

The 15 year old Henning achieved the most points throughout the year in competitions in Namibia as well as South Africa. In October he won a bronze medal a the South African Cadet Championships in Johannesburg.

Henning won the award with 262 points, followed by Mario Harmse of Alte Feste on 200 points and Romio Goliat of After School Centre Wrestling Club on 194 points.

The After School Centre Wrestling Club (ASCWC) that took part in two competitions in South Africa returned home with nine gold, five silver and one bronze medals.

The team of eight wrestlers competed in the Johnnie Reitz Big Five and the Centurion competitions in Pretoria.

At the Johnnie Reitz competition on August 6, the Namibians won five gold medals and two silver medals. On August 13, the team won four gold, silver and one bronze medals at the Centurion competition.

The captain of the ASCWC, Paavo Hihangwa said they were glad to get the opportunity to compete.

Wrestling in Namibia is struggling to keep afloat due to a lack of finances and dwindling numbers of participants.

At Saturday’s National Wrestling Championships in Windhoek only about 40 wrestlers from three clubs competed, while a leading club of the past few years was totally absent.

The After School Centre Wrestling Club from Katutura did not enter any wrestlers for the championships, with the result that top wrestlers like Jason Afrikaner, Sem Shilimela and Angula Shikongo were not in action.

Michael Thomas and Paavo Hihangwa were the joint winners of the Wrestler of the Year award at the Namibia Wrestling Federation’s annual prizegiving ceremony on Saturday, November 14. The two wrestlers, who are both members of the After School Centre Wrestling Club each accumulated 225 points during competitions in 2009 to head the points table on completion of the national championships on Saturday.

Namibian wrestlers won three gold, five silver and four bronze medals at the South African Greco Roman Championships which took place in Ermelo on May 1 and 2. Michael Thomas won a gold medal in the u13 under 39kg category, Gideon Nanub won a gold medal in the u15 under 42kg category and Lourens van Schalkwyk won a gold medal in the u13 under 50kg category.

Namibia’s silver medallists were Sem Shilimela (Juniors under 55kg category), Angula Shikongo (Juniors under 96kg), Daryl van Wyk (u15 under 33kg), Lukas Thomas (u17 under 54kg) and Jason Afrikaner (u17 under 58kg).

National wrestling trials were held over the weekend in preparation for the South African Greco Roman Championships that will be held in Ertmelo at the beginning of May. About 60 wrestlers from clubs in Windhoek, Okahandja and Otjiwarongo participated at the trials which took place at the After School Centre Club in Katutura.