XVI City of Sassari Tournament results and report

Scotland’s results from the City of Sassari tournament:-

FS
55kg – Craig McKenna – 5th
55kg – Ross McFarlane – 12th
96kg – Masoud Yosefi – bronze medal
96kg – Douglas Maxwell – bronze medal

FW
48kg – Donna Robertson – bronze medal
51kg – Jayne Clason – bronze medal
55kg – Kathryn Marsh – bronze medal
59kg – Tracy Connell – bronze medal

Report by SWA Performance and Development Manager, John Keogh

On the 17th May, 10 Scottish Wrestlers accompanied by the National Coach Volodymyr Gladkov and Performance Manager John Keogh attended a training camp in Rome. This was in preparation for their first international tournament of the year in Sardinia, in the City of Sassari Cup on the 28th May.

After a very good camp, which the Scottish team was invited to participate in along with the hosts Italy, Romania, Moldova and Canada, the team travelled to Sardinia. Of the 10 athletes in attendance 8 competed with 2 being withdrawn from the tournament with illness. By the end of the tournament, Scottish wrestlers had acquitted themselves very well with a total of 6 bronze medals, 4 coming from the female team and 2 from the male team. The other 2 athletes finished in 5th and 12th place respectively. This very good performance by our athletes, also seen the team collect a trophy for finishing 5th in the overall team ranking. This was a significant achievement considering the level and quality of the competition with over 20 countries competing and several athletes were given attention for medalling in previous major championships.

This was a great tournament for the Scottish wrestlers to compete in with some of the best wrestling federations in attendance, Russia, Canada, Latvia, Romania, Moldova, Poland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Other nations included Israel, Senegal, Slovakia, Iraq, Switzerland and also Great Britain, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In the team ranking only Romania, Spain, Italy and Russia finished ahead of the Scottish team and this is again testament to the Scottish athletes and the continuing improvement under the National Coach Volodymyr Gladkov.

This also created a great opportunity for Scottish Wrestling to continue to strengthen links with other nations including Italy, Canada, Romania and Moldova who have asked that we hold an international training camp in Scotland and have also invited us to camps in their respective countries.

Correction 1/6/11 – Ross McFarlane’s result amended from 7th to 12th.

Full Results

	PDF copy of results here

Scotland squad for City of Sassari tournament

The Scotland squad selected to compete at the 16th International City of Sassari tournament is:

FS
55kg – Craig McKenna
55kg – Ross McFarlane
66kg – Oleg Gladkov
74kg – Sean Keogh
84kg – Masoud Yosefi
96kg – Douglas Maxwell

FW
48kg – Donna Robertson
51kg – Jayne Clason
55kg – Kathryn Marsh
59kg – Tracy Connell

Coach – Volodymyr Gladkov
Team Manager – John Keogh
Referee – Thomas Kirkpatrick

The squad is preparing at a training camp in Rome ahead of the tournament, which will be held on Saturday, 28th May 2011.

Wrestlers First Athletes Selected For Team Scotland

With the Commonwealth Games in Delhi only 70 days away, Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) and the Scottish Wrestling Association today announced the 10 wrestlers (three men and seven women) selected to represent Team Scotland at the Games in October. This is the first of 16 sports competing in Delhi to have its athlete selections confirmed.

One of the original six sports included in the first Games in 1930, wrestling is now an optional sport and was last in the Games at Manchester in 2002, and it will also be in Glasgow in 2014. Wrestling is a hugely popular sport in India and one in which the hosts have targeted significant medal success. Such is the level of interest in the sport that the Scots selected today can expect to compete in front of 5,000 capacity crowds at every session, which will take place at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex 5-10 October 2010.

Women’s wrestling will also be making its debut in Delhi and CGS is particularly delighted to have female entries in all seven weight categories a remarkable feat given that there was no women’s performance programme in Scotland until 18 months ago.

This has come about as a result of a sportscotland backed talent transfer initiative led by Scottish Wrestling, which saw judo athletes take up the sport. Five of the seven women selected today came from judo, having enjoyed considerable success in that sport, but with judo omitted from the Commonwealth Games programme in both Melbourne and Delhi, there was a clear incentive to switch. Twins, Donna and Fiona Robertson both have Commonwealth Games bronze medals in judo from the 1990 Games in Auckland and the 2002 Games in Manchester respectively.

The Scottish performance squad have mat sessions on six days each week at Palace of Art in Glasgow, overseen by national coach, Volodymyr Gladkov from Ukraine. This is complemented by three weekly strength and conditioning training sessions, provided as part of a support services package from the sportscotland institute of sport network.

The majority of the team visited Jalandahar in India in December last year to take part in the Commonwealth Championships, the official test event for the Commonwealth Games. They enjoyed their most successful ever Commonwealth Championships, winning five medals and hope this augurs well for Delhi in October.

Congratulating the team, Michael Cavanagh, Chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland said: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome the 10 wrestlers to Team Scotland. They have truly earned their places on the team and I hope that they now can focus over these next two months on their final preparations that will put them in the best possible shape to excel at the Games.”

Jon Doig, Team Scotland Chef de Mission added: “All the wrestlers can feel rightly proud that they are our first athletes named in Team Scotland. This is the first step to achieving their goals in Delhi and all the support staff look forward to ensuring they have every opportunity to excel at the Games.”

On behalf of Scottish Wrestling, Team Leader John Keogh said: “I am extremely proud of the team selected for Delhi. It is a fabulous achievement to have ten wrestlers qualify and is testament to all their hard work. The women in particular, most of whom transferred from judo only 18 months ago to now compete at the highest level in another sport, must be commended, along with our head coach Volodymyr Gladkov.”

The majority of the wrestling team now head to Romania on Monday to benefit from further training and international competition, then on to Ukraine as they make their final preparations for the Commonwealth Games.

Press release from Commonwealth Games Scotland – 24 July 2010

Team Scotland Wrestling Squad for Delhi 2010

Athlete	Category
Craig McKenna	55kg
Viorel Etko	60kg
Sean Keogh	84kg
Fiona Robertson	48kg
Donna Robertson	51kg
Jayne Clason	55kg
Kathryn Gallagher	59kg
Tracy Connell	63kg
Ashlea McManus	67kg
Sarah Jones	72kg

Wrestling Team Leader	John Keogh
Head Coach	Volodymyr Gladkov
Coach	Colin McLaren
Referee	Victor Keelan