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American Samoa Wrestling Association holds beach wrestling tournament

The American Samoa Wrestling Association (ASWA) held a cookout/ beach wrestling tournament this past Saturday at the Maliu Mai Beach resort for all of the wrestlers who competed in this year’s American Samoa High School Athletic Association (ASHSAA) wrestling season. The event crowned three champions.

“With the ending of the ASHSAA wrestling, we thought it would be a great idea to have a cookout get together along with a beach wrestling tournament,” said Ethan Lake, President of the ASWA.

“The wrestling season went great, without any problems. Everyone got along great with good sportsmanship throughout the season. Hopefully now, we can start teaching beach wrestling to all of the wrestlers,” he said.

FILA — The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles — is the governing body of  international amateur wrestling, and it adopted beach wrestling as an official discipline during 2004-2005.

Beach wrestling is standing wrestling done by wrestlers, male or female, inside a sand-filled circle measuring 6 meters (20 ft) in diameter. It involves only two weight classes, heavy and light. The objective is to throw an opponent or take the opponent to their back. The wrestlers wear swimsuits rather than special wrestling uniforms. They may also wear spandex or athletic shorts.

(In American Samoa, shorts and T-shirts seem to be the costume of choice for the beach sport, as that’s usually the swimsuit for locals.)

The winners for the males in the in the light weight category:

1stBruce Scanlan

2nd         John Scanlan

3rdJohn Ludgate Jr.

The winners for the males in heavy weight class:

1stEric McMullin

2nd         Esera Iosefa

3rdGabriel Te’o

Top three female winners:

1stJeannie Togiailua

2nd         Emmalyn Liva

3rdLenoga Letuli

Reach the reporter at jeff@samoanews.com