Hundreds of young athletes return for 18th annual wrestling tournament in Abbotsford

ABBOTSFORD — More than 300 wrestlers from grades 1 to 12 are back on the grappling mats this Sunday (Jan. 26) at Abbotsford for the 18th Miri-Piri Wrestling Tournament.

Athletes hail from various parts of B.C., but some have traveled all the way out from Alberta and Washington. The tournament has always been sorted by grade and weight division, but the girls’ wrestling program has grown large enough to become its own category, too. There are nearly 60 total female wrestlers competing– a third of them from the Miri-Piri Wrestling Club alone.

“Our first tournament was at Rick Hansen Secondary and we had three mats,” said Gurjot Kooner with the Miri-Piri Wrestling Club. “Now, it’s up to six mats and we’re at the AG-REC.”

Kooner became a wrestler when his father, recent Abbotsford Hall-of-Fame inductee Kulvinder Singh Kooner, started the club in a 25×25 barn. He wasn’t always fond of it, but that changed when he saw his older brother, Inderjot Kooner, compete.