The City of Cape Town’s Sport, Recreation and Amenities Department, in partnership with Western Province Wrestling, is hosting the annual South African Greco Roman Wrestling Championships from Thursday, 26 April to Saturday, 28 April.
The South African Greco Roman Wrestling Championship is a large event with over 200 athletes competing from Namibia, the Boland, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the Free State, North West, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Northern Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.
The championships include competitions for the U/13, U/15 and junior athletes, followed by the finals in the junior event. There will also be the cadet, seniors and masters wrestling events. The finals in these categories promise to provide exceptional wrestling for spectators to enjoy.
In Greco Roman wrestling wrestlers are scored for their performance in three two-minute periods, which can be terminated early by a pinfall. This style probibits holds below the waist, which is the major difference between it and freestyle wrestling. This restriction results in an emphasis on throws, since a wrestler cannot use trips to take an opponent to the ground or avoid throws by hooking or grabbing their opponent’s leg.
Wrestling is one of the oldest sports in the world and one of the first sports in the Olympic Games. Currently there are 86 wrestling countries worldwide, of which thirty include wrestling as one of their national sports. In South Africa the Greco Roman Wrestling Championships are held annually, and the National Wrestling Federation has allocated this year’s event to Western Province Wrestling.
Western Province Wrestling currently have development hubs in Fisantekraal, Philidelphia, Klipheuwel, Joostenberg and Morning Star.
- Date: Thursday, 26 April to Saturday, 28 April
- Time: 08:00 – 17:00
- Venue: Velodrome, Bellville
