Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

With euphoria generated by 2014's Commonwealth Games quickly evaporating – and long nights in front of the box cheering on Kiwi athletes coming to an end – it's the ideal time for Sideline Sid to give his tuppence worth of highlights.

The long-time passionate boxing follower is overjoyed with the success of the New Zealand boxers, who won a gold and silver medal apiece.

For the first time in 24 years the New Zealand national flag raised in triumph, and our national anthem played out, after Hamilton pugilist David Nyika was presented with his light heavyweight gold medal.

Equally as stirring was the performance of David Light, who gave everything in his bout with his Canadian heavyweight opponent but was forced to concede defeat in the gold medal decider to finish with a silver medal.

The country's last Commonwealth Games boxing silver medallion was won by light heavyweight Bill Byrne at the 1974 Christchurch Games.

Byrne was heavily favoured to win the gold medal but was injured in his semi-final bout.

Then Byrne was forced to watch England's William Knight receive the gold on a walkover decision, after being ruled unfit to box by the medical panel.

However two sports to completely surpass any expectations, in Sid's view, are judo and wrestling.

A few of years ago the dishing out of the country's sporting funding was changed from a general lolly scramble to targeted funding, based on medal success at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games and major sporting championships.

Many minor sports, including boxing – all small fishes in a large pond – were fearful they would lose out in the annual high performance allocations.

While there were tears for a while, many losers in the funding allocations went on to fund vital overseas competitions on a player and official pays basis, with plenty of success in Glasgow coming from the minnows of New Zealand sport.

Western Bay of Plenty has a strong connection with the two wrestling bronze medals, with New Zealand coaches of Mark Grayling and Ross Tanner coaching at the Mount Maunganui and Katikati Wrestling clubs respectively.

Wrestling is a sport as old as mankind itself and many of the same holds are used in the present-day sport.

The basic idea is two men or women wrestle until one is declared the winner, but during the years wrestling techniques have become more sophisticated – today, the winner of any wrestling bout is usually the person who has the better technique, strength and overall fitness.

Wrestling and boxing both bear the cross of association with their professional counterparts. In 1965 the New Zealand Olympic Wrestling Union was formed to move completely away from the professional circus.

While grassroots wrestling is spread around the country, a lot of the top level wrestlers come from clubs in smaller communities outside the big smoke.

Katikati and Mount Maunganui, along with the likes of Featherstone, Te Awamutu, Waikanae and Taieri in the deep South, will continue to lead the sport in the future.

With promised increased funding based upon the Glasgow medal count, the future looks bright for Kiwi athletes at Rio and the next Commonwealth Games on Australia's Gold Coast.