News Page
Neeraj Bagga 7/5/03
A silent revolution has been witnessed in the sphere of women’s wrestling in the tiny border town of Tarn Taran, once the hotbed a terrorism. The area has produced at least 30 women wrestlers, including two international, eight national and nearly 20 state-level grapplers in the past four years since the event was thrown open to women.
This is indeed a laudable achievement. In the days of terrorism, people did not dare to venture out of their houses after sunset.
The women’s wrestling centre is housed in a hall of S.G.A.D. Government Girls Senior Secondary School. The centre has been doing a commendable job. It has at present 25 women wrestlers, including one of international level, four national position holders and 15 state-level wrestlers. Surprisingly the centre does not have a professional coach. One physical education instructor (PTI) Ms Shanti Sharma who had been an athlete oversees the arrangements.
She used to impart judo training in the school before the introduction of wrestling four years ago. However, with the introduction of wrestling she started imparting training after learning some lessons from a SAI wrestling coach in Amritsar. From time to time she also took help from male wrestlers of Tarn Taran to give tips to the trainees.
Roopinder Kaur who competes in 48 kg category, shone when she fetched the gold in the International Invitation Wrestling Championship 2002 in Turkey. She won gold (subjunior) and bronze (junior national) in 2001 and 2002, respectively. She got a silver in the National Games in Hyderabad last year and in the recently concluded junior national wrestling championship in Chennai. Suman Preet Kaur (67 kg) won gold and silver medals in subjunior National Wrestling Championships in 2000 and 2001, respectively. In the last two National Games held in Punjab and Hyderabad she fetched a silver and bronze. In the junior nationals held in Chennai this year she stood first.
Ritu Bala (44 kg) fetched gold, bronze and again gold in the last three Junior National Wrestling Championship from 2001 to 2003. Gurjeet Kaur (56 kg) won a gold medal each in the subjunior nationals (2001) and junior nationals (2003). Gurmeet Kaur (63 kg) won bronze in the junior nationals this year. Gursharan Preet Kaur, who was a member of the national wrestling team in the 16th Asian Senior Wrestling Championships in New Delhi, was a trainee of this centre for three years. She joined Punjab Police a year earlier.
Shanti Devi says the government must take notice of the performance of the centre which is functioning without a coach. Therefore a coach must be provided at the centre. She recalled that the centre did not have proper mats till a few months back. However, the Director Sports Mr Kartar Singh arranged 32 mats for the centre. She says it would be more beneficial if people came forward to extend monetary help for diet as the trainees come from different backgrounds.
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Roberts beats Van Dusen, 6-3, to qualify for 59 kg/130 lbs. Special Wrestle-off against Tomeo; Three Special Wrestle-off series set for Tuesday at Doherty High School in Colorado Springs
7/28/2003
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
Sally Roberts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC) defeated Marcie Van Dusen (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids), 6-3, in a Challenge Tournament match for the Special Wrestle-off at 59 kg/130 pounds on the U.S. Women’s World Team.
The match was held in the wrestling room at the U.S. Olympic Training Center on Monday, July 28 at 11:00 a.m.
The victory qualifies Roberts for the best-of-three series against World
Team Trials champion Erin Tomeo (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) on Tuesday.
There will be three best-of-three series on Tuesday, July 29 at Doherty High School located at 4515 Barnes Rd. in Colorado Springs, Colo. The first set of matches will take place at 10:00 a.m. (Mountain Time). The second series of matches will begin at 1:00 p.m. and the third matches, if necessary, will take place 30 minutes following the conclusion of the second match.
The winners of the Special Wrestle-Offs will represent the United States at the 2003 World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling in New York City, September 12-14.
The champions of the Women’s World Team Trials in all three non-Olympic weight classes will be challenged for their spot on the 2003 U.S. Women’s World Team.
Medalists at the Olympic weight classes have a right to challenge for the U.S. World Team spot in a Special Wrestle-off at the three non-Olympic weights.
Roberts placed third at 63 kg/138.75 pounds, one of the four Olympic weights. She dropped to 59 kg/130 lbs. for the Special Wrestle-off. Van Dusen placed third at 55 kg/121 lbs. and moved up to enter the Special Wrestle-off.
The other two Special Wrestle-offs on Tuesday are:
At 51 kg/112.25 pounds, World Team Trials champion Jenny Wong (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) will face one challenger, Clarrisa Chun (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC). Chun placed second at the World Team Trials at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., and will move up in weight for the Special Wrestle-off.
At 67 kg/147.5 lbs., World Team Trials champion Katie Downing (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) will face Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC). Marano placed second at the World Team Trials at 63 kg/138.75 lbs. and will move up in weight for the Special Wrestle-off. Last year, Marano defeated Downing two matches to none in a Special Wrestle-Off for the U.S. Women's World Team spot.
This system of Special Wrestle-off opportunities within women’s wrestling was started last year. There were Special Wrestle-offs in two weight classes in 2002, and in both cases, the top challenger defeated the World Team Trials champion to earn a spot on the U.S. World team. At 51 kg/112.25 lbs., challenger Stephanie Murata (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids) defeated World Team Trials champion Wong for the team spot. At 67 kg/147.5 lbs., challenger Marano defeated World Team Trials champion Downing for the team spot. Marano went on to win a bronze medal at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. at the 2002 World Championships.
The outcome of the Special Wrestle-off does not change the Team USA rankings as determined at the World Team Trials, nor the national team support funding that was earned through the placements at the World Team Trials. This Special Wrestle-off only determines the U.S. team members for the 2003 World Championships of Freestyle Wrestling.
SPECIAL WRESTLE-OFFS FOR U.S WOMEN’S WORLD TEAM
at Doherty High School, Colorado Springs, Colo.
July 28-29, 2003
51 kg/112.25 lbs.
World Team Trials champion Jenny Wong (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
Challenger - Clarrisa Chun (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC)
59 kg/130 lbs.
World Team Trials champion Erin Tomeo (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
Challenger - Sally Roberts (Colorado Springs, Colo./Gator WC)
67 kg/147.5 lbs.
World Team Trials champion Katie Downing (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids)
Challenger - Kristie Marano (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC)
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Wrestlers pin hopes on NCWA
COLLEGES: As sport declines at scholarship level, new program grows.
By J.R. RARDON 7/27/03
Anchorage Daily News
While watching her 7-year-old son Daniel take part in the Great Alaska Wrestling Camp at Service High last week, Melissa Frentzel ticked off a list of benefits Daniel gets from the sport.
One of them is it's a sport he could one day compete in at college.
My, how the times have changed.
Since 1972, when Congress passed Title IX legislation designed to provide equal educational opportunities for women, college wrestling has been pinned tightly to the mat while hundreds of schools eliminated the sport in order to achieve gender equity.
But college wrestling is on the verge of scoring an escape from this downward spiral, thanks to the emergence of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association.
"It's a way to get wrestling started again at some of these schools," said Dave Mills, head clinician at last week's camp and coach of an NCWA program at Michigan's Grand Valley State University. "And it's a way to have wrestling established at these schools in case they get to move back in (to the NCAA)."
The NCWA got its start in 1997 when 19 collegiate club wrestling teams banded together and created a national championship tournament to cap their season.
Those 19 programs have grown in six years to 101 teams -- still just a fraction of the 439 college wrestling programs axed since 1972, but more than the 91 programs remaining in NCAA Division I.
The group has created a significant increase in opportunities for athletes who want to continue wrestling beyond high school.
"It seems like a good idea to me," said Erik Bollerud, a Service High senior who hopes to continue wrestling after his final high school season. "The (scholarshipped) college teams only take the top wrestlers. There's other guys out there who may not be Olympic material but still want to do it."
It's true that the NCWA wrestlers do not receive athletic scholarships, and they can't compete in the NCAA or NAIA championships.
But they very often compete against their NCAA and NAIA counterparts in regular-season matches, and the NCWA tournament offers chances for national championships and All-America honors.
"We compete in the Penn Invitational, and we compete against all the D-I programs in Virginia," said Mike Clayton, coach at the Apprentice School for shipbuilders in Newport News, Va. "We're competing in big events, and we're finding we're competitive."
Eventually, it is hoped, many of these NCWA programs will find their way back into the sanctioned graces of the NCAA or NAIA, where they existed before falling victim to the Title IX mandates of the mid-'70s.
At that time, schools were charged with providing a balance of men's and women's athletic opportunities that mirrored the general student population. The number of women's athletic programs grew rapidly, which was desired. But many schools found they could only afford to achieve balance by eliminating men's programs, a trend that continues today.
Wrestling has not been the only victim -- men's gymnastics, baseball and swimming also have been hit hard. But as a nonrevenue sport with no women's equivalent, wrestling has been an easy target.
"Wrestling has really taken it on the chin from Title IX," said Mike Mills, Dave's brother and an Anchorage attorney who wrestled at Notre Dame before that school's program was cut in the early 1990s. "Because of the NCWA, the pendulum is swinging, though. What they want is to have those programs there when the political climate changes."
Men's wrestling may find one of its best allies in, ironically, a women's college sport.
Over the past several years, dozens of schools have started women's wrestling programs. Alaskans Melina Hutchison of Soldotna and Tela O'Donnell of Homer have gotten in on the ground floor, and O'Donnell has earned her way onto the U.S. Olympic Developmental program for women's wrestling, which will be a demonstration sport in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
If women's wrestling continues to grow -- and an Olympic bump can't hurt its popularity -- it may be hard for colleges to justify having women's programs while keeping the door closed to the men. While their college programs may have vanished in the last 30 years, the wrestlers are not going away.
"I think what the NCWA has done," Mike Mills said with a nod toward the mat at Service High, "is demonstrate the interest is still there."