Wrestling: Champion Ana Moceyawa gains another gold and stops her competition

Tauranga wrestler Ana Moceyawa has another gold medal to add to her collection after competing in Australia. Photo / George Novak

Australian wrestlers eyeing Olympic qualification have been stopped in their way by Tauranga wrestler Ana Moceyawa.

Earlier this month Moceyawa travelled to Melbourne so she could face new opposition at the 2019 Australia Cup ahead of her world championship campaign in September and her Oceania championships campaign in January - both competitions that will hopefully put her in the direction of Tokyo's 2020 Olympics.

While there, she won gold after taking out her Senior Female 62kg division of the competition, which was an Olympic qualifying event for Australian wrestlers.

"I won gold which is good to get some different competition before I go overseas, that's kind of what I was after. It was their Olympic qualifier but we had a small team go over just for some extra competition," Moceyawa said.

"They probably weren't too happy with our team that went over because we all came away with first or seconds."

She was one of about six wrestlers who travelled to the competition, the only wrestler from Tauranga, wanting to gain as much time competing against new people as possible and ultimately improve their skills.

"My own personal goal was just to see how I go with my comp prep, like flying over, prepping for the comp having my weight at point and just getting different people instead of just the same people all the time in New Zealand.

"The level was maybe the same as our nationals so it wasn't like the highest level but it was just different bodies, because that's what wrestling is like you just don't know who you're going to come up against."

It's all part of her preparation for September's World Championship competition in Kazakhstan and ideally, she'd like to finish in the top six, which would mean she would automatically gain Olympic qualification. However, she knows it is no easy task.

"Top six will get me through to the Olympics but this is very hard.

If she does make it though, Moceyawa says it will alleviate a lot of stress for her.

"I could focus more on training. I would still do the qualifying tournaments as prep for Olympics but I could probably be able to get funding or sponsorship and then I'll be able to go overseas and train fulltime."

From there, her next big event is Oceania Africa in Morocco, which will be another chance to qualify for the Olympics if she finishes in the top two.

Moceyawa is a three discipline martial arts champion, holding national titles in wrestling, judo and grappling. Wrestling however, is where she is putting all of her energy until at least next year.

"My main focus will be wrestling until the Olympics."