Rattigan wins national gold medal

Rattigan began wrestling at the age of 11

Bristol's Leon Rattigan continued to show his potential when he took the gold medal at the British Senior Championships, held in Manchester.

Rattigan had a top-20 finish at the recent World Championships in Denmark.

He proved himself Britain's finest by beating Bolton's Vahid Hoseinpoor in the final of the men's 96kg division.

"Leon was very unlucky at the worlds, so he has deserved this result," said GB Wrestling's performance director Sean Morley.

"Yet again, it proves the confidence we have in him to continue his great progress, and be in the mix at the London Olympics."

Of GB's other Olympic hopes, Krasimir Krastinov and Yana Stadnik were also among the gold medal winners in the men's 66kg and women's 48kg respectively.

Both claimed fifth placings at the World Championships, and proved too good for their opposition.

Morley said: "Neither Leon, Krasimir or Yana had it easy, and all three of them had to work hard for their first place finishes, and what that tells me is that it is a healthy outlook for GB wrestling.

"As a team, we finished 17th out of 51 countries in Denmark, and bearing in mind that at the last Worlds, two years ago, we were down in the 30s, overall we are making great progress.

"Watching the competition over the weekend confirms that."