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Three Burnaby Mountain wrestlers qualify for Olympic Games

The Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club will be sending at least three wrestlers to the Summer Olympic Games in London.

The Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club will be sending at least three wrestlers to the Summer Olympic Games in London.

Super heavyweight Arjan Bhullar, Hasilan Garcia and male wrestler of the year Matt Gentry all qualified for London, winning gold medals at the FILA Pan-American Olympic Games qualifying tournament in Florida last weekend.

Garcia won all three of his matches at 66 kilograms without giving up a points, while Gentry also won three bouts at 74kg, including a match that went to a tiebreaker against Cuba's Yunierki Blanco.

Bhullar defeated a Venezuelen and a Mexican grappler to advance.

A fourth wrestler John Pineda lost his bronze-medal match and did not qualify.

The qualifiers will join Clan alumnus and Olympic champion Carol Huynh and two-time Olympic medallist Tonya Verbeek on the Canadian contingent.

There are still two opportunities for Canadian wrestlers to qualify for the games. China will host an international Olympic qualifier from April 27 to 29, while Finland will host the final opportunity in May.