Jenny Castaneda
The Waldorf women’s wrestlers have had a successful season, and now they will represent Waldorf on the national stage. It was announced yesterday that six team members had been selected for the NAIA national tournament.
Diana Dzaseveza earned the bid for the third time in her career, though she has yet to compete at the national tournament. In 2019 she didn’t compete after earning a bid, and the 2020 national tournament was called off due to COVID-19. Dzaseveza will compete at the 130-pound class where she recently finished runner-up at the Heart of America Conference Tournament.
Akina Yamada and Berenice Espino have also been tabbed for their second national appearance. Yamada earned a bid in 2019 and is the lone Warrior who has competed at nationals. She was an NAIA All-American in 2019. Espino made her first career bid in 2020 but also wasn’t able to compete due to COVID-19. Yamada will compete at 143 after also finishing runner-up at the conference tourn
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Agra, January 31
While young cricketers like T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj get awarded with SUVs for their stellar performance in Australia, wrestlers have to make do with buffaloes. With more physical strength probably needed to pin down opponents on a wrestling mat than to hurl a 156 gram cricket ball, it makes sense to gift them an endless supply of protein.
So it comes as no surprise that a buffalo worth Rs 1.5 lakh will be given to the best athlete at the National Women Wrestling Championship in Agra.
According to Dronacharya Awardee Mahavir Prasad, a committee has been set up to decide the best wrestler of the event that concludes on Sunday.