The second day of wrestling competition concluded tonight at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Australian wrestlers had another tough day on the mats on the Gold Coast.
It started positively with Nicolaas Verreynne in the Men’s 97kg division who defeated Joe Hendry early in the day.
In the lead-up to the games, Hendry, a pro wrestler, called out Whittaker, stating in an interview with GC2018.com, “For pro wrestling fans, for MMA fans, for amateur wrestling fans, me versus Rob would be the most fun and interesting.”
It wouldn’t end up being as the UFC twisted Whittaker’s arm and forced his withdrawal from the competition and in stepped Verreynne who was able to get the job done.
Unfortunately for Verreynne he lost his next match-up against Martin Erasmum and wasn’t able to get past New Zealand’s Samuel Belkin in the repechage.
Only other Aussie wrestler competing today was Mehrdad Tarash who bowed out of the competition in the opening round after losing to Vincent De Marinis from Canada.
The wrestling wraps up tomorrow with Australian team members Jayden Lawrence (Men’s 86kg) and Rupinder Kaur (Women’s 50kg) both in action.
Results from Friday
Men’s Freestyle 97kg
- Nicolaas Verreynne (Australia) def. Joe Hendry (Scotland) – Victory by Fall
- Martin Erasmus (South Africa) def. Nicolaas Verreynne (Australia) – Victory by Technical Superiority
- Samuel Belkin (New Zealand) def. Nicolaas Verreynne (Australia) – Victory by Points
Men’s Freestyle 65kg
- Vincent De Marinis (Canada) def. Mehrdad Tarash (Australia) – Victory by Technical Superiority