Aiden Attao, center, poses with the NMI Men’s National Wrestling Team during the Micronesian Games send-off ceremony for Team Marianas at the Ada gym on June 10, 2024.
AIDEN Attao continues to make the CNMI proud by successfully defending his title in this year’s USA Wrestling U20 Pan-Am Championships in Lima, Peru held on July 11-13.
It only took 41 seconds for Attao to pin his opponent, Jorawar Dhinsa of Canada, to secure an 8-0 victory.
In an interview, Attao said he had a great finals match. Fortunately, Attao had wrestled Dhinsa in his first match of the tournament and after meeting him once again in the finals, “I knew he would try something, so he tried an arm throw and I floated with it and got on top and rolled him in a front head lock four times before I pinned him.” Attao said. “This is actually my third championship. It means a lot to defend my title not once but twice, because it means that the work I am putting in is paying off, but also that I have the ability to still wrestle and compete at a high level even when everyone is out to beat me.”
He said this year’s competition was “honestly better than the two years prior, and I’m glad it was, because I came here to wrestle the best in the Americas and that’s exactly what I did.”
Attao’s approach has been the same for every match. “Every match is just another match, and every tournament is just another tournament. It’s just like practice, go out, have fun, be aggressive, be smart, be fast, and just let it fly. That’s the mindset,” he said.
Micronesian Games
Attao would have been a great addition to Team Marianas in the Micronesian Games held recently in Majuro, the Marshall Islands.
Unfortunately, he had to back out because he was selected for the USA Senior Greco Team, CNMI Coach Barry Bauer said.
“I felt sad for a while but after talking to the team and coaches they understood why and honestly were cheering me on because they knew I was doing something else,” Attao said.
Despite Attao’s absence, Team Marianas wrestlers James Attao-Greene Jr. and Ryan Babauta topped their competitions and contributed a total of six gold medals,.
“I thought they killed it out there,” Attao said. During his visit to Saipan after the world team trials, Attao worked with Team Marianas for a brief moment and said their wrestling was “on par.”
“They wrestled with a lot of confidence and…had fun and that’s all I told them to do. So, I am impressed and proud of the way they wrestled and performed during the Micronesian Games,” Attao said.
