SOFIA, Bulgaria – Eleven Canadians are set to step on the mats next week with their sights set on the Olympic Games.

The final tournament to qualify quota spots for the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The event runs May 6 to 9. The qualifying rounds, and Tokyo 2020 qualification rounds will take place on May 6 for men’s freestyle, May 7 for women’s freestyle, and May 8 for men’s Greco-Roman.

The top two wrestlers in each weight-class will secure Olympic nominations for their country.

To qualify for the Canadian team, athletes competed at the Canadian Wrestling Trials in Niagara in December 2019. Alex Moore was granted an injury provision for the Trials and defeated Clayton Pye in a wrestle-off for the 86 kg spot. Jessica Brouillette is replacing Trials winner Michelle Fazzari at 62 kg.

The team includes two World Champions. Linda Morais took gold at the 2019 World Championships at 59 kg, and Jessica MacDonald won at 51 kg in 2012.

Team List

Men Freestyle
65 kg Dillon Williams
74 kg Jasmit Phulka
86 kg Alex Moore

Women Freestyle
50 kg Jessica MacDonald
53 kg Samantha Stewart
57 kg Linda Morais
62 kg Jessica Brouillette

Men Greco-Roman
60 kg Adam MacFadyen
67 kg Daniel Coles
87 kg Yiannis Narlidis
97 kg Thomas Barreiro

Staff
Head Coach Tonya Verbeek
Coach David Zilberman
Coach Kimin Kim
Coach Evan MacDonald
Coach David Spinney
Team Medical Mahyar Dibaji
Team Leader Kale Whitton
Referee Demetra Koutsopodiotis
Referee Ed Zinger
Referee Gary Bird

Team Canada has already secured four quota spots in wrestling. On the women’s side, the 76 kg and 68 kg were captured by Erica Wiebe and Danielle Lappage, while the men picked up the 125 kg and 97 kg spots courtesy of Amar Dhesi and Jordie Steen.

All four spots were secured at the Pan-American Olympic Qualification Tournament in Ottawa in March of 2020.

The event will be webcasted by United World Wrestling. Complete event information is available here.