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Chinese Grand Prix to be held in September in Fuzhou

The delegation of the Chinese Weightlifting Association headed by Mr. Zhou Jinqiang, First Vice President, Mr. Peng Zhao and Ms. Meng Bo held discussions with the IWF President and finalized the last details regarding the organization of the 2015 IWF Grand Prix. The Invitational 2015 IWF Grand Prix will be held in Fuzhou from 21-23 September and is an Individual Qualification Event for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The competition venue will be the Mawei Gymnasium Fuzhou and athletes will competete in the following bodyweight categories: Men: 56kg, 62kg, 69kg, 77kg, 85kg Women: 48kg, 53kg, 58g, 63kg, 69kg Winners in total of each bodyweight category will be awarded with Prize Money as follows: First Place: 8.000 USD Second Place: 5.000 USD Third Place: 3.000 USD Any athlete setting up a new Senior World Record will be awarded with the following bonus Prize Money: Snatch: 4.000 USD Clean & Jerk: 4.000 USD Total: 8.000 USD This is the first time that such an impressive amount is given out as Prize Money during and IWF Grand Prix Event. In total 160.000 USD plus World Record bonus will be awarded to the

International Weightlifting Federation presents LIFT THE WORLD

Our goal is that those who see LIFT THE WORLD will never look at weightlifting the same way again LIFT THE WORLD, the documentary about weightlifting produced by the International Weightlifting Federation started its journey today on the official IWF website, Youtube, Facebook and social media sites. The uplifting 50-minute film documents the hopes, aspirations and achievements of weightlifters of all ages across four continents. It features 10-year-olds in Mexico, teenagers from Cameroon and Tunisia, and revealing at-home interviews with World and Olympic champions Dmitry Klokov and Lu Xiaojun, in Russia and China. It provides a chance to show weightlifting out of the context of major sporting events – show it as an interesting subculture - a way of life that includes many interesting people and their amazing stories. “We wanted to show the many different backgrounds of our heroes – the weightlifters of the world. Capturing their emotions and roar of exultation, LIFT THE WORLD presents weightlifting as a life path and gives an insight in how weightlifting can shape people’s lives.” said Lilla Rozgonyi, Communication and Marketing Director Production Assistant from the IWF side. It is not only communicating to those who are interested in sports in general, but those who just switched on to watch something passionate one night. The movie itself uses the fact that the public mainly sees weightlifters only once every 4 years during the Olympic Games and by the time they get to know a little more about the sport – it’s already over. With the privilege to take shots in their private atmosphere, a family visit at home, this movie shows to the viewers, how one becomes successful in weightlifting. Thanks to the project, Young generation and strangers to weightlifting can became familiar with the sport and get involved! LIFT THE WORLD was shown for the first time to an audience of athletes, coaches, officials and journalists during a movie night out at the 2014 IWF World Championships in Almaty. “This could be a historical moment for us,” said Dr Ajan. “This film can encourage more and more young people to take up weightlifting. The IWF Executive Board fully supports such initiatives; showing to the world weightlifting as a basic sport for other discuplines.” The film was funded by the International Weightlifting Federation to promote the sport and is now freely available on YouTube. LIFT THE WORLD was rapturously received by a number of Olympic medallists, among them the great Pyrros Dimas, from Greece. The various comments from the audience included, “A magnificent production” “There are movies with soul and movies without soul. This movie has soul.” Umbrella.tv talking about the movie: Making this film was a beautiful voyage all around the globe filmed in 5 different languages. For the crew of Umbrella.tv, the makers of the film, it was amazing to see how people from totally different cultures and social backgrounds are fascinated by the same thing. Their goal was to show ordinary young people behind the extraordinary capabilities. As the coach of the Mexican Team summarized it: “kids need role models of the obtainable kind” and this movie surely gives that to them. Those who see this film will understand that setting up a goal in life can make everyday girls and boys reach beyond their

Lima to host 2017 SportAccord World Combat Games

SportAccord has revealed Peru's capital Lima as the host of the 2017 World Combat Games. The third edition of the multisport competition, which will take place at the end of 2017, is expected to attract some 2,500 athletes in 33 disciplines and 135 categories. The awarding of the event to Lima was made official by the signing of an agreement by SportAccord President Marius Vizer and Peru Olympic Committee President, IWF Vice President José Quiñones González. A total of 16 sports, six of which are in the Olympic Games, will be contested at the World Combat Games. Weightlifting will be included to the programme for the first time. It will be broadcast live around the world in more than 100 territories "The World Combat Games is a great event that will allow us to expose our city and country to the world," Quiñones said. The Peruvian Weightlifting Federation, under the guidance of President José Quiñones González organized several weightlifting competitions: - 2007 University World Championships - 2008 Olympic Games Qualification Pan American Championships - 2010 YOG Qualification Youth Pan American Championships - 2011 IWF Youth World Championships - 2013 IWF Junior World Championships - 2014 YOG Qualification Youth Pan American Championships - and the soon starting 2015 IWF Youth World Championships The IWF is very confident that under the leadership of Quiñones, the 2017 Combat Games and especially the weightlifting program will be an outstanding success. Source:

9th Mediterranean Cup organized in Malta

The Malta Weightlifting Association organized, with success the 9th edition of the Mediterranean Weightlifting Cup. Eleven countries participated in this team event with the Tunisian team winning the competition with 1891 points. They were followed by France with 1754 points and Italy with 1607 points. The Maltese team placed fourth, with 1482 points followed by Turkey’s 1321 points, Spain, Israel, Slovenia, Greece, Bosnia & Herzegovina and San Marino. 18 Mediterranean records were broken, 11 of which were achieved in the women section whilst the remaining 7 in the male section. The Best Male athlete was the Tunisian athlete, Karem Ben Hnia, and the Best Female athlete was also taken by a Tunisian lifter, Yosra Dhieb. This year, the Fair play award was given to Andreas Andrén, for devoting and promoting the sport of weightlifting. Apart from the competition, a seminar took place at the Plaza Regency hall, with the support of IWF, conducted by Dr. Michele Attolico, with the subject new approaches and therapeutic prospects in weightlifting. Check out the: Classification by Category Team Classification Men & Women Individual Ranking Source: Jesmond Caruana, MWF

WADA Symposium in Lausanne

More than 470 anti-doping experts from IFs, NADOs, RADOs, Laboratories, Major Games Organisers, WADA and first time Media representatives met in Lausanne, Switzerland from March 24-26 for the 11th edition of WADA’s annual Symposium for Anti-Doping Organizations (ADOs) – the largest annual gathering of anti-doping practitioners. The goal of the Symposium was to optimize the Practice of the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code. This was a perfect opportunity also for the IWF representatives (Dr. Patrick Schamasch, IWF Anti-Doping Commission Chairman, Dr. Magdolna Trombitás, Legal counsel, Ms. Melody Exhenry, Administrative Assistant) to get together with the Anti-Doping Community and discuss the experiences regarding the new IWF Anti-Doping Policy which entered into force on the 1st January 2015 and which has a clear focus on protecting the clean athletes. For the first time in the history of the WADA Symposium the representatives of the Laboratories and Media were also invited and this enable the anti-doping community to discuss a wider range of issues connected to Anti-Doping. The IWF is enlightened to announce that also a random Anti-Doping Commission meeting took place during the aforementioned Event. The Symposium provided practical workshops and training sessions related to education, testing, intelligence and investigations, the Athlete Biological Passport, results management, therapeutic use exemptions, ADAMS, and other key areas of the fight for clean sport. For more news related to the Symposium click on the following links: WADA ADO Symposium WADA / Optimize World