Gibson leads the way as Sunderland wrestlers claim big medal haul

A team of Sunderland wrestlers have claimed a haul of medals at the recent British Open Sambo Championships in Folkestone.

Red Star Sambo Sunderland, training out of Roker Avenue, took a team of five wrestlers to the south coast to compete in the busiest competition of the year for sambo.

Entries came from as far afield as the Ukraine and Tajekistan.

Normally, head coach Barry Gibson, 45, has competed at home and abroad by himself, but the club now have another two coaches who have successfully gained a place representing Team GB sambo and combat sambo on the world stage.

Ryan Richardson, 28, took a hard-earned bronze medal, only losing to a French fighter and then a Russian sambist.

"Ryan was well out of his comfort zone as it was sport sambo and not combat sambo, the difference being sport sambo relies on grappling only, similar to judo, whereas combat sambo also involves striking, which he much prefers," said Gibson.

"Ryan has qualified for the Senior World Championship in Turkmenistan later this year at 74kg."

Steve Taylor, 52, took gold in his division with some hard fights, grinding out points wins and pinning or submitting his way to victory.

After placing fifth in the World Masters last year, Steve qualifies again this year for the World Masters and hopes to better that performance.

Two of the club’s less experienced sambists also just missed out on bronze medals.

Liam Connell, 34, in his first ever sambo competition beat strong opposition only to come unstuck in his bronze medal match against a more experienced wrestler.

Mark Stuck, 35, showed his experience but lost out on bronze by a very narrow margin.

Gibson won silver in the Masters division, losing out to his good friend and mat nemesis Georgi Georgiev from Bulgaria, injuring his MCL, which forced his withdrawal from the senior event.

Barry also qualifies for the Worlds Masters Championships in Holland later this year, and was awarded his Master of Sport from John Clarke, President of the British Sambo Federation.

Gibson said: “It’s awesome to see sambo growing and improving.

“I would also like to say a massive well done to my team who came with me to Folkestone. ”