An exciting day of sumo with medals, a trophy and splendid prizes from our generous sponsors, Madura Tea, and Zeus natural supplements.
Newcomers to sumo, lightweight martial arts exponent,Guy Belgrove, and heavyweight gridiron player, Robert McKinnon, stunned the excited crowd of around 200 people with their spectacular victories, defeating every opponent in their respective divisions to take the win. Sumo veterans, Sydney’s John Traill and New Zealand’s Howard Gilbert, held their own with John winning the Middleweight and Howard placing third. Australia welcomed is first indigenous sumo wrestler, Cade Blackman, who showed strong fighting spirit and promises to be real asset to the Australian squad.
Last year’s Australian champions, Derek Boyer (Heavyweight) and Peter Townsend (Open) performed well, with Derek placing second in the Heavyweight behind 200kg sumo natural, Rob McKinnon, and winning the Men’s Open. Peter was 2nd in the Middleweight (having slimmed down and dropped a division) and 3rd in the Men’s Open.
In the teams event 4 Australian teams fought for the right to represent Australia against New Zealand. The Gold Coast Team took the honours and went on to defeat new Zealand, returning the Oceania Team Challenge Trophy to the trophy shelf at the Gold Coast PCYC, where the team trains Mondays from 5 pm. Queensland’s powerhouse team of Rob McKinnon, Peter Townsend and Cade Blackman were 3rd.
The number of women competitors was small but the women showed their skills with New Zealand’s Geneva Webber proving too strong for 15 year old junior, Renee Robinson, placing second and Stephanie Wong 3rd. We look forward to seeing these young ladies representing their countries and Oceania in future international competitions.
A big thank you to coaches Ken Matsuto and Sonny Parsons for all their hard work in preparing their athletes.
The audience donated generously and bought Pray For Japan and 2011 Oceania Sumo Championships t-shirts. Money raised will be given to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund
See competition photographs by Jaime Dormer at http://www.jdphotographics.com/Sports/Sumo-Wrestling
RESULTS
Junior Women’s Open
1st Renee Robinson (NSW)
Lightweight Women
1st Stephanie Wong (QLD)
Middleweight Women
1st Geneva Webber (NZ)
Women’s Open
1st Geneva Webber (NZ)
2nd Renee Robinson (NSW)
3rd Stephanie Wong (QLD)
Lightweight Men
1st Guy Belgrove (QLD)
2nd Justin Dee (QLD)
3rd Josh Patterson (QLD)
Middleweight Men
1st John Traill (NSW)
2nd Peter Townsend (QLD)
3rd Howard Gilbert (NZ)
Heavyweight Men
1st Robert McKinnon (QLD)
2nd Derek Boyer (QLD)
3rd Drew Weeks (QLD)
Men’s Open
1st Derek Boyer (QLD)
2nd Ben Thorpe (NZ)
3rd Robert McKinnon (QLD)
3rd Peter Townsend (QLD)
Men’s Teams
1st Australia (Gold Coast Team) Derek Boyer, Tim Mollenhauer, Drew Weeks
2nd New Zealand Nick Brown, Ben Thorpe, Howard Gilbert
3rd Queensland Robert McKinnon, Peter Townsend, Cade Blckman
