Australian wrestler Jayden Lawrence’s fate in the Men’s Freestyle 86kg class may hinge on the repechage after losing his opening match-up to Iranian Hassan Yazdanicharati 10-0 in Paris.
The 29-year-old on Olympic debut said he gave his all at Champ-de-Mars Arena but Yazdanicharati was too good.
Jayden can remain in the competition if his opponent progresses to the gold medal match up.
“He brought his A Game definitely this time,” Jayden said.
“I versed him last year and I had a really good crack at him then, but he certainly came out firing this time and blocked everything that I could do.
“Hopefully, he goes all the way through so I can get back into the repechage.”
Jayden fell in love with wrestling as a child but more work needed to be done to inspire the current generation to take up the sport.
“I was quite young, it was through the WWE which is probably how most Australians start (in wrestling),” he said.
“Then I realised it was the real thing and fell in love with it ever since 2004.
“The discipline side of things, it humbles you on how hard the training and competition is, cutting weight and all that, so there’s a work ethic about it which really grows you as a person.
“Hopefully we can grow the sport by trying to get into schools and school festivals, so the younger generation can come through.
“It would be lovely to start in Australia and maybe England as well because that’s where my background is, that’s what we’re missing that all the other countries have - through the school system, colleges and uni.”
Reece Homfray
