South Africa brought 18 gold medals home out of the 33 weight and age divisions in the 2024 African Kurash Championships held in Eswatini. The tournament took place on Saturday the 27th of July at the Piggs Peak Hotel in Eswatini in July. The top 100 Kurash fighters from around the African Continent competed to claim gold in their respective categories.
Amongst the senior men was Devon Cook, hailing from Pretoria, who wrestled his way to the top of the men’s under 60kg category. Cook, who owns Pretoria Martial Arts, a dojo in his hometown, faced off against fighters from Mozambique, and the Democratic Repulic of Congo in the finals. Devon’s quick, aggressive style proved useful, securing first place and a gold medal.
In the senior women’s open weight division, Suandri Groenewald from Gauteng competed in a final bout against Cameroon. Suandri scored a clean halal (victory) against her opponent, securing the first senior gold medal for South Africa. Suandri’s victory has earned her a trip to Uzbekistan, the birthplace of Kurash in October this year where she will face off against countries from all around the globe in the World-Series-Pro prize tournament to win the prize of the president of Uzbekistan.
Both Devon and Suandri have a long history of kurash tournaments under their names, having both recently competed in the Kurash World Championships 2023 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Several junior and cadet fighters entered the championship, and made South Africa proud by claiming several gold medals. The gold medalists in their respective categories are:
Junior Females
48kg – Danique Scheepers (Junior and Cadet)
52kg – Abbigail Le Clus
63kg – Dominique Kyriacou (Junior and Cadet)
78kg – Meegan Zomero (Junior and Cadet)
Cadet Females
44kg Beate Van Schalkwyk
48kg Mishka Scheepers
70kg Michaela Strydom
Junior Males
66kg Luca Kyriacou (Junior and Cadet)
73kg Andrew Coucourakis-Vermaak
81kg Kayden Wethmar
90kg Henri Swanepoel
Cadet Males
55kg Michael Van Schalkwyk
We wish all of these athletes the best of luck in their upcoming Kurash World Championships, and World-Series-Pro tournaments later this year.
