Leon Rattigan is a bright hope for London 2012

British wrestlers impressed at the inaugural GB Cup in Sheffield with nine medals against the world's top stars.

No Brits will be at this summer's Olympics, but Krasimir Krastanov won gold, and Leon Rattigan and Olga Buktevych both grabbed silver medals.

Bristol's Rattigan was narrowly beaten by German Marc Buschile in the 96kg category, while Buktevych lost to Poland's Paulina Grabowka in the 63kg.

The annual tournament was set up to develop wrestling in the 2012 build-up.

Krastanov, the 25-year-old Manchester-based athlete, struck gold by defeating Canada?s David Tremblay, a member of Canada?s Beijing-bound Olympic team, to underline his prospects for success at London 2012.

Shaun Morley, the British Wrestling Association's (BWA) performance director, said: "It is a magnificent result for British wrestling. Leon's performance has been extremely impressive, he is growing in stature with every bout and is quickly realising his potential in the sport.

"The performances here are a significant step forward for British wrestling as the guys have proved that they are capable of competing at a world-class level.

"It marks a real milestone in our development as we move towards London 2012."

Britain's six bronze medallists were Scott Gregory (55kg), Oleksander Madyarchyk (60kg), Sergei Latyshev (66kg), David Sweeney (74kg), Oleg Druzhynets (84kg), and Chinu Chinu (120kg).

The GB Cup, which is backed by UK Sport, attracted more than 70 world-class international wrestlers from nations including Russia, Poland, Finland, Belarus, Japan, Mongolia, Australia and Hungary.