Lack of match fitness showed its tail in the wrestling events at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, when team Namibia’s Romio Goliath and Jason Afrikaner found the going tough during the men’s 57 and 65 kilograms (kg) freestyle categories at the Coventry Sports Arena.

Afrikaner was the first Namibian athlete that competed when the wrestling events started on Friday and he was eliminated by George Ramm of England in the quarterfinals after a 0-7 score.

His teammate Goliath on Saturday also found the going tough against Ali Asad of Pakistan who beat him 0-10 in their 57kg category.

The Namibian wrestlers showed the skills and moves of good wrestlers on the wrestling floor mats but all their hard work did not pay off as their opponents were more skilful and had several international fighting experiences to their names.

In an interview with Nampa on Saturday Goliath said Namibia is not very far from the rest of the world in wrestling.

“I enjoyed my fight but you could see that my opponent was much better than me as he is a champion and a favourite in our category alongside India’s Olympic Games silver medallist Ravi Dahiya,” he said.

He added that competing at the Commonwealth Games has gained him knowledge and experience that he will apply when he competes in other international fights.

“These are my first international games. I had a tough fight but with more exposure and international competition, I can improve. The best way to learn is competing at more international competitions which in a way will help in gaining experience,” Goliath said.

Meanwhile, team coach Luis Fercelledo Paz told this agency that with exposure to international competitions his wrestlers would do better for themselves and their country.

“We have African Games coming up next year in Ghana and it will be good if these athletes get more international competitions as preparations for those games,” he said.

Fercelledo added that training alone is not good enough if you want to produce champions.

“We are everyday busy at our gym in Katutura training and I am proud that they came to display what I have taught them, but what these wrestlers need is more competitive fights which will give them skills that can’t be taught in the gym,” Fercelledo said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency