Wrestling News: After a long three-month individual training and dummy training, Olympic champ Erica Wiebe resumes partner training at the University of Calgary. About 25 wrestlers gather in a park at the university to work on their skills, as per CTV News. This was for the first time since COVID-19 lockdown that they have practised sparring. Wiebe says that every wrestler has to sign a consent form and follow strict guidelines laid down by the authorities.
“We record everyone that’s at training. We ask them to not do any other sports and to be careful who they’re having contact with outside of our sport cohort,” she said. 2014 Commonwealth Games winner Danielle Lapagge who is also part of the Canada wrestling team says it felt great to be able to grapple again.
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“I haven’t wrestled since the Olympic qualifiers in March so it was kind of an unexpected break,” she said. “I haven’t had a break like this in my wrestling career so I missed it a lot and it’s really nice to be back,” she added.
Both the wrestlers have confirmed Tokyo Olympic quota for Canada after finishing in top two at the Pan-American Olympic Qualifiers which were held in March before United World Wrestling (UWW) decided to cancel all the tournaments. While Wiebe has confirmed berth in 76kg, Lapagge has secured a place in 68kg. The Summer Games were originally scheduled to be held this year. However, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, it has been postponed to next year. It will be held from July 23 to August 9, 2021.
