Lake Erie National Beach Wrestling Championships set for August 20th in Oregon, Ohio
Jeff Bucher/Perrysburgwrestling.org
The Lake Erie National Beach Wrestling Championships will be held August 20th in Oregon, Ohio. The sunbathers and picnickers of Maumee Bay State Park, on the shores of Lake Erie, will make way for athletes in the world’s newest sport. The beach wrestling competition will be sanctioned by USA Wrestling, the national governing body of wrestling.
During last summer’s Olympic Games in Athens Greece, FILA, the international wrestling federation, announced that Beach Wrestling would be added as a new international wrestling style. When announcing the new sport, FILA expressed its intention to create an opportunity for economically disadvantaged countries to compete in the World’s Oldest Sport. Many countries have hosted ethnic forms of this style for thousands of years. Athletes around the world will now be able to compete for World medals in both men’s and women’s divisions, as the sport develops as planned. It is also a recreational sport that will interest new people about wrestling.
“We are excited about hosting this event in Ohio,” event director Jeff Bucher said. “We have had a lot of interest from athletes of all ages, even several from the colleges that are near northwest Ohio.” Bucher said Ohio State and Purdue, as well as other smaller university and club teams, have shown an interest in competing.
“Our site is phenomenal. We truly believe this site can later be utilized for larger national and international events,” Bucher continued. Competition will be covered by Buckeye Cable Sports Network and televised on the northwest Ohio cable network.
The event will have three age divisions: Schoolboy, Cadet/Junior, and Open. Competitors will be split into three weight categories based on mass: light, middle, and heavy. Both men’s and women’s divisions will be included.
Additional information regarding the Lake Erie National Beach Wrestling Championships can be obtained by calling Jeff Bucher at 419-466-8767 or by emailing [email protected].
Entries can also be found at www.usawrestling-ohio.org.
For more information on Maumee Bay State Park, visit their website:
www.maumeebaystatepark.org
Wrestling Gear
