Wrestlers on a 性视界传媒 school team won another provincial-championship banner in tribute to a team member killed in a single-vehicle crash not long ago.
Taren Lal, 17, was heading home after a long day of work Jan. 7 when he lost control of his vehicle in Langley, near Fraser Highway and 228 Street.
On Saturday (Feb. 25), less than two months later, his Tamanawis Secondary teammates rallied to win a fourth-consecutive B.C. boys wrestling title at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, beating the second-place team (W.J. Mouat of Abbotsford) by a whopping 27 points.
鈥淲e had a bit of extra energy,鈥� confirmed Tamanawis co-coach Jessy Sahota. 鈥淲e all had a conversation before the tournament, that it would be dedicated to Taren Lal, and I know that all of the wrestlers had that in the back of their heads this weekend.鈥�
Sahota said Taren was 鈥渁 go-to person鈥� on the school wrestling team, 鈥渢he one everyone would go to, and he was a very positive person. He is missed.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in talks with the school principal to somehow celebrate this victory and also honour Taren, so he鈥檚 remembered as well,鈥� added Sahota, who co-coaches with brother Paul (Pola) Sahota, Shaan Randhawa and others.
At the PNE arena, nine Tamanawis wrestlers earned points as top-six finishers in their weight categories, including gold-medalists Karanjot Dhillon, Jastej Mundi and Rohit Bal, silver-medalists Manjot Sangha and Justin Lalli, bronze winner Mustafa Nasir, fourth-place finishers Heytan Bal and Yuvraj Virk and sixth-place grappler Angad Atwal.
鈥淎ll of our wrestlers showed up, and some, we did not expect them to place but they did, and it was beyond our expectations,鈥� Sahota explained. 鈥淥ur wrestlers really put their best foot forward and practiced hard to represent the school the best they can.
鈥淭he margin of (team) victory, that was a huge surprise to us,鈥� he added. 鈥淎s coaches we do some calculations heading in, and we thought the best-case scenario was that we would win by five to seven points, not by 27.鈥�
In the Team Male competition, Tamanawis was one of three 性视界传媒 school teams to finish in the top six, followed by Queen Elizabeth (third place) and Enver Creek (sixth).
性视界传媒-area wrestlers to win weight categories were Tanya Dhillon of Semiahmoo (Female 51 kg), Gaurav Bahi of Earl Marriott (Male 41 kg), Karanjot Dhillon of Tamanawis Secondary (Male 45 kg), Rohit Bal of Tamanawis Secondary (Male 78 kg), Jastej Mundi of Tamanawis Secondary (Male 90 kg) and Aykam Takhar of Fleetwood Park (Male 130 kg).
Maple Ridge Seconary won the female team competition at provincials, and Gibsons鈥� Elphinstone won the aggregate title.
for all the results.
Sahota said the Tamanawis wrestling team is very proud of winning a fourth straight B.C. boys banner.
鈥淲e鈥檙e fortunate, because we didn鈥檛 see this coming so quickly, we were thinking maybe 10 or 15 years down the road when we started here,鈥� Sahota said. 鈥淏ut we got lucky, the stars aligned, we鈥檝e had a great group of kids, they鈥檙e all fighters, and part of this is definitely luck, too.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still working to build the program and bring along the younger wrestlers,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a snowball effect, and we鈥檙e creating that winning culture, that wrestling culture, and we鈥檙e attracting more students to the program. You know, some of these kids wouldn鈥檛 have wrestled before, and some of them we pulled out of the hallway to come join, and look at them now.鈥�
READ MORE, FROM MARCH 2022: 3rd straight B.C. wrestling banner for 性视界传媒 school team coached by returning Sahota brothers.
At Tamanawis, work will continue on building the female wrestling team.
鈥淲e had just one female this year,鈥� Sahota lamented, 鈥渁nd in the past we鈥檝e had up to four. But the lack of training partners is an issue, because they鈥檙e understandably reluctant to train with the guys. Even this one female, we were scared of losing her because she didn鈥檛 have a training partner. We鈥檙e looking at having a female mentor come in and help build the female side of things.鈥�
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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