Stadnik continues impressive rise with European silver

GREAT Britain's Yana Stadnik took a surprise silver at this weekend's European Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Baku.

The Ukrainian-born wrestler fell at the final hurdle losing to Russian Lorisa Oorzhak in the gold medal match for the 48kg category in the Azerbaijan capital.  

But the 22-year-old's performance has propelled her on to the world stage and she will now be seen as a realistic medal contender for London 2012.

And GB wrestling performance director Shaun Morley certainly has high hopes for Stadnik, who has lived in the Britain since she come over as a sparring partner in February 2007 and was persuaded to stay on with the British team.

"This is a fantastic result for British wrestling and I'm absolutely thrilled to bits," he said.

"It proves we are making progress with our wrestlers and that they are not only competitive at the top level but also winning medals.

"Yana is coming on in leaps and bounds and this result really does establish her in the world's top four.

"I think that on this evidence she is going to be a real contender for a medal at the London Olympics."

British wrestling has struggled over recent years and had to cope with having it's London 2012 funding slashed to just £717,650 last year, when the sport was deemed to have no chance of an Olympic medal.

But the amount was increased to £1,435,210 last December and performances like that from Stadnik, who only just missed out on a bronze medal at the World Championships in Denmark, will go far to lift the profile of a sport which is ranked alongside table tennis and weightlifting in terms of funding.

A medal of any colour at London 2012 will be a huge achievement for the British team, who last won an Olympic wrestling medal at Los Angeles 1984 courtesy of Noel Loban's bronze.