Barbados Beach Wrestling Open showdown on Sunday

By Morissa Lindsay

Barbados’ top beach wrestling athletes will get a chance to face off against world class competitors including Charlie Bowling of England who is currently on island, in the highly anticipated Barbados Beach Wrestling Open event scheduled for this Saturday, October 15, on Brandons Beach.

During a press conference held today at Rascals of Barbados Bar and Restaurant on Brandons Beach, president of the Barbados Wrestling Association (BWA), Rollins Alleyne said they are once again promoting beach wrestling on the island and by extension the Caribbean after it was halted by the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Over the years BTMI has been a big part in combat sports in Barbados and in 2019 they were able to send me to Argentina and get Pan American Beach Wrestling in Barbados. However, COVID put a stamp on that so we decided to try again to promote beach wrestling by having the Barbados Open and we have blended it with what we call the Barbados
Beach Wrestling super week which will include things like workshops and training camps,” Alleyne said.

He added: “This week promises to be a week of friendship, bringing people together and also I have the Imperial School, they have some little kids and they will try something different where they will be doing arm wrestling on the sand because we are trying to make it a fun event.”

Fully endorsed by the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc (BTMI), the competition has four competing weight categories for the men’s – 70kg, 80kg, 90kg and 90+kg and the women’s are 50kg, 60kg, 70kg and 70+kg. There is also an open division for men with the winner of that category receiving BDS$600 and the lovely BTMI sponsored trophy.

In addition, Alleyne explained that the athletes needed competition and noted that in the region there aren’t that many competitions because of the high cost to travel. However, the BWA will not allow that to deter them as they seek to form partnerships with major international countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom who are competing in the event along with the United States of America, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

Director at BTMI with responsibility for the Caribbean and Latin America with respect to sports, Corey Garrett, expressed that the organization he represented looks forward to continuing supporting sporting tourism at all levels to ensure the best for Barbadian athletes and those who are visiting the island.

“Beach culture is something that all of us Barbadians know about and definitely something that persons also flock to our shores for, from beach wrestling to beach tennis to beach cricket, to beach running, to beach walking, they are so many things that we incorporate at the beach as part of our life. So, it is really thrilling
for the BTMI obviously after a hiatus of not having this type of event here on island for quite some time.

“At the BTMI as you know our mandate surrounds welcoming people, athletes, regular visitors, business people, and any type of visitor who is definitely coming here to the island. As mentioned earlier by Rollins we are obviously thrilled to have Mr Charlie Bowling with his accolades and obviously being a British bronze medallist being part of this entire activity, it just goes to show the trajectory and the types of persons that we definitely want to attract or associate with sporting events in Barbados,” Garrett told the media.

He added: “We definitely are always working to secure high calibre athletes who can come to the island, share their talents and also share them with locals especially, so they can also reach the lengths or the heights and breadths of their particular sporting disciplines.”

President of Central Toronto Wrestling, Jason Jordon, said it was an honour for his team to be in the island competing at the Barbados Open. As someone who has been in the sport for nearly 40 years Jordon noted: “It is an amazing sport, great for development of people and it truly is an example of something that makes people comfortable with being uncomfortable in a competitive situation. The beach is even tougher in many respects than wrestling on a mat. So, this is a fantastic way to bring athletes onboard to the sport.”

Without the added support of Rascals of Barbados, Argentina embassy, Barbados Bottling Company and the Barbados Olympic Association, the event could not have been made possible and British competitor Charlie Bowling who won bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in the 67kg said he is happy to be competing in Barbados.

“I met with some athletes and coaches from the Judo team of Barbados and I was making a passing comment about how nice it would be to go to Barbados and to have the opportunity to wrestle here and then here we are a few months later on the beach taking part in the beach wrestling tournament, so it is pretty crazy,” Bowling shared.

(morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb)