The IKA media team continues to present interviews of the participants of the World Championship
Donald Sutherland, President of the South African Kurash Federation
I have been heading the Kurash Federation of South Africa since 2017.
I was engaged in freestyle wrestling and judo.
I came to Kurash family in 2014. In the same year I participated in the African Championship in Swaziland and became the champion.
In 2015, I took part at the World Championship in the Iranian city of Hurromabad and took 3rd place. I also participated in other competitions in 2016. In the same year, I took 2nd place at the African Championship in the Congo and left big sport.
I am an athlete and I live with sports. After the end of my sports career I started a career as a coach.
The World Championship has always been the most prestigious competition in all sports. Participation in it is also an excellent result. At least, one of the strongest athletes win and get the gold medal.
For the strongest athletes, strength, experience, intelligence and luck are also necessary. More also depends on the draw.
In India, unfortunately, we have only 2 athletes defending the honor of the Republic of South Africa.
I hope we can win medals with our 2 athletes.
Financial issues are always a big obstacle to participating in these prestigious events, related to the high cost of air tickets in Africa and the accommodation of athletes in hotels at their own expenses.
In my opinion, there should be an incentive for the winners, the finalists of the continent, which can attract the best athletes. Because athletes sometimes go to competitions at their own expense and receive almost no financial support from their national federations.
A good cooperation has been established between us and the IKA team.
I think that athletes will take part in competitions at the highest level. In my opinion, it always serves as a great experience. You will meet the same like-minded people and establish relationships that are interested in kurash.
For an athlete, the World Championship encourages an athlete to make more efforts. There is definitely a huge difference between regular training, which is more program-oriented, and preparation for the World Championship, which is more focused on power actions. It’s definitely hard because intelligence and strength should be proportional. I believe that this will give its results.
I wish good luck to all athletes participating in the World Championship. I would also like everything to go without injuries. Let only the best athletes win in Pune.
