Abbotsford’s Jasmit Singh Phulka continued fighting for his dreams to wrestle in the Canadian colours at the Olympics with a pair of impressive performances on the mat this weekend.
Phulka traveled to Calgary for the Canadian Wrestling World Team Trials on Saturday and the Canada Cup International Wrestling Tournament on Sunday.
Competing in the 79 kilograms division, Phulka won all four matches on Saturday against some of the top wrestlers in the weight division in Canada.
He opened with a 10-0 win over Alberta’s Miles Kent and then also blanked Manitoba’s Brock Munro 10-0. He then defeated Quebec’s Sam Barmish 7-3 and beat Alberta’s Shawn Daye Finley via judge’s decision (4-4).
With the wins Phulka earned a spot on Team Canada at 79 kg and will be representing Canada at the Senior World Wrestling Championships in Kazakhstan in September. Jasmit is the only Fraser Valley wrestler on Team Canada, and is one of only two B.C. wrestlers heading to the event.
Phulka was then tasked with having to cut five pounds, which he successfully did, for Sunday’s event.
He moved to the 74 kg division for Sunday because he wanted to compete at that weight for the Canada Cup International Tournament. It’s also the same weight class he hopes to compete at in the Olympics and he had been informed a team from Korea was bringing an athlete in this weight class. So he toughed it out and cut weight after wrestling his four matches on Saturday and made weight Sunday morning.
Phulka posted a 13-3 victory over Ontario’s Adam Thompson and also beat Youngcheol Shin of Korea 13-2 to take home the top spot.
Next up for Phulka will be tournaments in Poland, Belarus and then the World Championships in Kazakhstan.
The ultimate goal is to win the Canadian Olympic Qualifier to be held in St. Catharines, Ont., in December, and then win an international qualification tournament for an Olympic birth in early 2020.
For more on the events, visit wrestling.ca .
