Shilimela qualifies for Olympics

WRESTLER Sem Shilimela qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games when he won a silver medal at the Africa and Oceania Olympic Games Qualifying tournament in Marrakesh, Morocco.

It was a brilliant comeback by the 21 year old Shilimela, who had earlier only managed a fourth place at the African Wrestling Championships at the same venue.Competing in the Under 55kg freestyle category at the Olympic qualifiers, Shilimela won two fights to reach the final where he lost to an Egyptian opponent on points.He had however booked his ticket to London, since the top two wrestlers in each category qualified for the Olympic Games.The president of the Namibia Wrestling Federation Dawie Augustyn said it was a great achievement.’The International Wrestling Federation must still confirm Sem’s qualification but it should just be a formality. This was one of our long term aims and it is a great achievement by Sem, who is also Namibia’s first black wrestler to qualify for the Olympics. He’s a home grown Namibian who came through our local structures,’ he said. – namibiasport.com.na