Great Britain’s Kurash wrestlers produced some fine performances at the Paris International Tournament, achieving a gold and a bronze medal. This prestigious event, held in honour of the birthday of the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, took place under the embracing shadow of the historic Eiffel Tower. The iconic tower was beautifully lit for the evening finals block, providing a magnificent backdrop to an exciting tournament that witnessed nearly 100 Kurash wrestlers from 23 different countries set foot on to the gilam. Hot favourites of course were the very strong team from Uzbekistan, the homeland of Kurash, who boasted several world champions in their number.
The tournament was contested in four weight categories, two for women and two for men, and Great Britain brought a full team of eight to contest the medals and 30000 euros in prize money. The British team included current European champion in the women’s Under 87 kilo category, Danielle Batt from Staines and Natasha Glassford from London who had claimed a silver medal in the Under 63 kilo category at the same event. With just two weight classes on offer in Paris, both would be stepping on to the gilam with heavier opponents for this competition. The rest of the team, all international Kurash debutants but seasoned international Judo or Sambo competitors, consisted of Chloe Nunn, Caroline Brayson, Danny Roberts, James McNeillie, Barry Gibson and Thomas Humphrey.
With the Uzbeks hot favourites in every category, Bishop Stortford’s Chloe Nunn proved to be the surprise package by upsetting the established order in the Women’s Over 70 kilos. Having enjoyed a bye in the first round, Chloe overcame the Uzbek champion, Abdullaeva, in the second round and then took a measured victory over the very tall and imposing home favourite M’Bairo of France in the semi final. In the same category on the opposite side of the draw, Danielle Batt battled her way to the bronze having first defeated Uzbek and Turkish opposition in a pair of very tough contests before sustaining a narrow loss against Georgia’s Kebadze in the semi final thus ending any hopes of an all-British final showdown.
In a very well-matched final, there was no score to either combatant at the half-way mark. This meant the jazo tie-breaker came in to play to ensure that there could not be a drawn contest at the end of time. In this situation, both wrestlers are required to take a backhold grip of the opponent’s belt and, on the referee’s call, attempt to throw each other without releasing the belt grip. This was a new experience for Chloe and she unfortunately conceded a minor penalty for releasing her grip on Kebadze’s belt. Although now marginally behind on points, this had a motivational effect on Chloe who knew that she had to throw caution to the wind and attack strongly if she was to have a chance of winning. On resumption of the contest, Chloe immediately took the initiative whilst her opponent did the exact opposite trying to defensively sit on her lead. This resulted in the Georgian being penalised for passivity thereby putting Chloe in front by the narrowest of margins. As a fatigued Kebadze opened up in the last minute in an attempt to regain the lead, Chloe produced a spectacularly timed throw to land the Georgian cleanly on her back, much to the delight of the spectators, thus clinching the gold medal and 3000 euros prize money.
“I’m really excited to have won,” said Chloe, “I didn’t know quite what to expect at this event but my confidence built with each contest. I’m really looking forward to the next tournaments and hope to be selected for the World and European Championships”.
Danielle added, “I’m happy with another podium place especially as I was competing above my usual weight class. Bring on the next event!”
The rest of the team, although not medalling on this occasion, performed well and picked up valuable experience which will hold them in good stead on their respective journeys along the international Kurash pathway. Natasha Glassford and Caroline Brayson in the women’s Under 70 kilos were both eliminated in their opening bouts but will have learnt valuable lessons. At Under 90 kilos, Danny Roberts had the misfortune to be drawn against the top Uzbek Alikhon Nodirov eventually being worn down by the eventual gold medallist’s superior jacket gripping skills but not before giving a very good account of himself. Meanwhile, on the other half of the draw, James McNeillie made a brilliant start throwing his Kyrgyzstan opponent cleanly on his back in the opening minute for a khalol score – the Kurash equivalent of a knockout in Boxing or ippon in Judo. Unfortunately, James was himself eliminated in the next round by the very skilful Frenchman, Bordat-Goldschmid. British heavyweights, Tom Humphrey and Barry Gibson in the Over 90 kilos both went out in their first contests to strong Turkish and Romanian opposition respectively in a category won by the multi-titled world champion Sherali Juraev from Uzbekistan.
Team manager and coach, Paul Sawyer, said, “This year has been a great one for British Kurash. We’ve seen some new competitors on the medal rostrum at major international events and I’m certain we can continue this trend over the next 12 months. We’re looking forward to hosting our own Grand Prix tournament in the UK in 2026 and building on these recent performances”.
The Paris Grand Prix proved to be a great success, both from an organisational point of view and also from the British perspective where Chloe Nunn and Danielle Batt firmly announced their presence on the world stage. EuroNews covered the event extensively ensuring Kurash received some very welcome publicity across the continent.
Sincere and grateful thanks from the British delegation must go to the Uzbekistan and French Kurash federations for their collaborative efforts in ensuring the event was so well organised our own Barry Gibson who kindly provided the team shirts and Sudhesh Joseph and family for their support!
by Paul Sawyer
