Throwing your competitor on the ground may not be polite, but national wrestling competitors can't afford to have good manners if they want to win gold.

Winning gold will be the aim of the game at the New Zealand Olympic Wrestling and Grappling Championships this weekend.

The event is on at Baypark Arena today and tomorrow, Saturday, August 27 and will double as a selection for the Oceania Championship next January.

Mount Maunganui wrestling coach Mark Grayling says the only way to be selected for the Oceania team is with a gold medal.

'We have to take the top in each weight group in the seniors. With the juniors, we can take more than one in each weight group.”

Mark started the club six years ago when there were no wrestling clubs available in the Tauranga and Mount Maunganui area.
He began wrestling in Katikati when he was 14 years old and now, after developing his own club in Mount Maunganui, Katikati has become his main competition.