Mustang Brianne Barry will wrestle at the junior worlds in Budapest starting July 20, while Western assistants Dave Spinney and Saeed Azarbayjani will attend in coaching roles.

London-Western’s Ramona Balfour (43 kg) and Olivia Gunnell (59 kg) will also accompany Brianne (55 kg) on the Canadian junior women’s team.  Coach Dave Spinney was selected by CAWA as Head Coach of the Women’s Team while, coach Saeed Azarbayjani was selected to assist the Junior Men’s team.  

Coach Ray Takahashi was selected as coach for the FILA Cadet Men’s team that will compete at the Cadet Pan American Championships, July 18 in Manaus, Brazil.  London-Western wrester, Brian Cowan will compete at 46 kg. 

Ramona, Olivia and Brianne earned their berths to compete in Hungary by winning the Junior National Championships in March, while Brian and brother Adam were first alternates for the FILA Cadet Team.  Adam will travel to the Penn State Training Camp and duals, that will be taking place in State College Pensylvania, July 24-29.

The annual golf tournament hosted by Western Wrestling, assisted by London-Western is scheduled for Monday July 5, 2010 at Greenhills Golf Club, London. 

The friendly event will allow alumni and friends to play golf and socialize. 

This year’s tournament will feature a guest player from Japan, Tomohiro Matsunaga, who placed 2nd in the Beijing Olympics.   Matsunaga will also train at Western after the Canada Cup & Training Camp July 9 until July 12.  His visit was made possible through Japanese  coach Y. Toba and coach Takahashi.

Select team members are making final preparations for the Canada Cup in Guelph, July 3, 4.  The Junior-Senior division will be contested July 3, while the Pre-Junior division (U18) will be held July 4.  Following the events, the Canada Cup Training Camp will be held July 5-9.

Ramona Balfour and Olivia Gunnell competed in the highly rated German Grand Prix Wrestling tournament in Dormagen, Germany, May 22, 23.  Balfour (44 kg) placed 7th while Gunnell placed 8th at 59 kg.

44 kg

• Gold – Nadezda Fedorova (Russia)
• Silver – Tabatha Grunewald (France)
• Bronze – Lina Myreeva (Russia)
• Bronze – Katharina Baumgartner (Germany)
• 5th – Bettina Kruppke (Germany)
• 5th – Jane Schmieder (Thüringen)
• 7th – Ramona Balfour (Canada)
• 8th – Agata Lagozna (Czarny Bor – Poland)
• 9th – Jasmin van Berkum (Nordrhein-Westfalen – Germany)

59 kg

• Gold – Evelina Gryvik (Sweden)
• Silver – Margarita Fatkulina (Russia)
• Bronze – Zhargalma Tsyrenova (Russia)
• Bronze – Alena Filipava (Belarus)
• 5th – Fabienne Wittenwiler (Switzerland)
• 5th – Laura Raffler (Austria)
• 7th – Christiane Knittel (Germany)
• 8th – Olivia Gunnell (Canada)
• 9th – Ramona Ballas (Nordrhein-Westfalen – Germany)
• 10th – Irina Petrova (Latvia)

(Atatürk Sports Hall, Ankara, Turkey.)

Olivia Gunnell and Brianne Barry both won Gold medals at the Junior International “Champions” tournament in Ankara, Turkey.  Ramona Balfour placed  5th.  Details are forthcoming.

55 kg:

• 1.  Brianne Barry (Canada)
• 2.  Günay İsmailova (Azerbaijan)
• 3.  Leyla Ertaç (Turkey)
• 3.  Martina Riegler (Austria)

59 kg:

• 1.  Olivia Gunnell (Canada)
• 2.  Laura Raffle ( Austria)
• 3.  Emine Cutting (Turkey)
• 3.   Niyetova Gulffaras (Kazakhstan)

Overall Team results WOMEN

1. TÜRKİYE: 67 POINTS
2. CANADA: 65 POINTS
3. KAZAKISTAN: 60 Points

Congratulations to Ramona, Olivia and Brianne!