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Sofia, Day 2: Four medals for Bulgaria as USA guest Morris moves up Paris rankings

Host nation Bulgaria had four men on the podium in two contests, an Armenian teenager claimed the women’s 55kg, and American Hampton Morris made a big gain in the Olympic rankings on the second day of the European Championships in Sofia.Morris moved up from 10th place to seventh after outperforming all the Europeans in the 61kg session. Team USA cannot win medals here but their totals count in the Paris 2024 rankings.They were given permission to compete in Bulgaria rather than the Pan American Championships later this month in Venezuela, a country with which USA has no diplomatic relations. Hampton Morris (USA, right) posing with the European medallistsAmong those Morris overtook was the Bulgarian Ivan Dimov, who was surprisingly beaten by team-mate Gabriel Marinov. Morris broke three American records in making 126-171-297, which was 16kg more than Marinov’s winning total.Marinov declined his final attempt after making 121-160-281. Dimov successfully opened with 130kg before missing four straight attempts, then finished with 150kg for a total of 280kg.Shota Mishvelidze from Georgia had his lowest total for many years, making 125-147-272 for third place. But that was a phenomenal effort by last year’s champion, who is fifth in the Paris rankings, because he was recently laid low by a virus that got into his lungs. He was in hospital last month and was not sure he would be fit enough to lift.Morris was especially happy with his career-best snatch of 126kg. “The last two weeks before this competition went very well,” he said.“I was really happy with the way my snatch was moving, and so was my dad (coach Tripp). I felt very good out there – the event has been amazing. My only target was to improve my place in the rankings and I did that.”Pavlo Zalipskyi from Ukraine and Valentin Iancu from Romania, who finished fourth and fifth, also won medals. Zalipskyi was second in snatch and Iancu second in clean and jerk.Marinov and Dimov had plenty of support from a noisy home crowd, just like winner Angel Rusev and third-placed teenager Dzhan Zarkov in the earlier 55kg session.For Rusev it was a sixth European title since 2018 as a youth, junior, and now four straight times as a senior. Rusev was helped by the jury, who reversed a unanimous no-lift decision on his second snatch of 109kg. He declined his final attempt after making 109-135-244.Five of the other 11 athletes in the session have stood alongside Rusev on the podium during his run of success, sometimes with a snatch gold but never ahead of him on total.One of them, Josue Brachi from Spain, was out of contention at halfway after three snatch failures. He took clean and jerk bronze on 131kg. Two others, snatch winner Muammer Sahin from Turkey and the Georgian Goderdze Berdelidze, dropped away after two clean and jerk failures. It was the last appearance for Sahin, 30, who retired afterwards.Cristian Luca from Romania also fell just short after losing his final attempt. Luca was fourth,  which left only one of the five in the medal positions on total this time – second-placed Ramini Shamilishvili from Georgia. Shamilishvili made five good lifts for 111-130-241.Zarkov, 17, was making his first appearance in a senior competition and was the only athlete to make all six lifts. He was nearly 50kg up on his last result in the European Youth Championships nine months ago, making 102-133-235 to move from eighth in snatch to third overall.There was an exciting finish in the women’s 55kg where two teenagers fought it out for gold and a 31-year-old won her first international medal in third place.Junior world champion Aleksandra Grigoryan from Armenia kept up a good run of results when she edged ahead of the 18-year-old Italian Celine Delia, who was competing at the senior Championships for the first time.At the World Juniors in Mexico in November, Grigoryan was fifth in snatch before winning gold on total with her final lift. Here in Sofia she was seventh at halfway and did it again, winning with a final clean and jerk of 115kg.Italy’s coach Sebastiano Corbu said Grigoryan “truly performed a miracle in the last attempt”. He was very happy with Delia’s performance. “Let's take this silver medal which was an excellent result for a rookie and confirms the excellent preparation made.”Grigoyan, 19, has competed five times in seven months. “I like to keep busy,” she said. She plans to lift again at the IWF World Cup in Thailand, which starts in seven weeks. “Was I confident of winning at halfway? It was 50-50. I know I’m more powerful in clean and jerk.” Armenian teenager Aleksandra Grigoryan with team-mates after her 55kg victoryDelia made her last two lifts to take the lead and finished 84-11-195, a career-best total. Sol Anette Waaler from Norway was the only snatch medallist to make the top three on total.Waaler, 31, made a remarkable save on her second clean and jerk, ending up right on the front edge of the platform. That helped her to 86-104-190.“I’ve never medalled before internationally so I’m happy with that,” she said. “But I’m also disappointed because I’ve been making more in training.” Waaler, from Trondheim, was a late starter in weightlifting in 2016, switching from CrossFit, and plans to keep going for a while yet.Waaler won gold in snatch ahead of Yulia Hulina, the independent neutral athlete from Belarus, and Burcu Alici from Turkey, who was also third in clean and jerk. Hulina finished sixth and Alici fourth. Alici’s twin sister Duygu was a snatch medallist at 49kg on Monday before bombing out in clean and jerk. By Brian

Sofia, Day 1: Colourful Cambei breaks record and wins again for Romania  

Mihaela Cambei wore her national colours with pride once more as she won her second senior continental title on the opening day of the 2024 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.Cambei broke her own 49kg European record in total as she made five good lifts for 90-109-199. That was 1kg more than her best in Olympic qualifying and leaves her in a strong position in fifth place, only 1kg behind three of the four above her. Mihaela Cambei (ROU)She has now won three European titles taped up in the colours of Romania’s flag, blue, yellow and red. It has helped her to another triumph, too – the EWF’s award for top female lifter in 2023. The men’s winner, at the opening ceremony after yesterday’s three sessions, was super-heavyweight multiple champion Lasha Talakhadze from Georgia.At the European Junior Championships in Albania in 2022 Cambei decided to cover her shoulders and upper arms with K Tape. The Kinesiology Tape is used to improve circulation and support muscles but Cambei – who has 266,000 followers on Instagram – saw it is a way to promote her country, too. “It has worked well,” she said.Teenager Olivia Drzazga from Poland was second on 74-96-170 and Thammy Nguyen won another landmark medal for Ireland in third place on 74-95-169. Thammy Nguyen (IRL), with her medalsLast year Nguyen became Ireland’s first medallist at the senior European Championships when she took bronze in clean and jerk, finishing fifth overall. This was her country’s first medal in total at the continent’s flagship event.Nguyen was sick at Christmas and has had a knee injury. “This one was tough,” she said after making only two good lifts. That was better than some others on a day when there were many red lights and three medal contenders failed to make a total.Turkey had two chances to make the podium but finished with two bombouts by Alici Duygu, second in snatch, and Medine Belicier. Giulia Imperio from Italy, who was hoping to move up the Olympic rankings, was another who failed to make a total in a session that featured many red lights. Imperio missed all three snatches and retired from clean and jerk.Mara Strzykala was a very happy winner of the B Group. Strzykala, who will be 32 next month, is Luxembourg’s only current international weightlifter and the first woman ever to represent her nation in major international competitions. Mara Strzykala (LUX. right), with her coachToday she recovered from two snatch failures to make all three clean and jerks for 66-92-158 before celebrating with her coach Sabine Kusterer, the German who has twice lifted at the Olympic Games. It was good enough for sixth place, ahead of seven A Group lifters.Strzykala would never have been in Sofia, or even in weightlifting but for losing a bet a few years ago. A weightlifting coach knew she had a background in gymnastics and track and field, and kept asking her to try a new sport.“I kept saying no, then one night we were in a bar and we had a bet on whether the next customer through the door would do this or say that, I can’t remember exactly. Anyway, I lost and that meant I had to go and do a weightlifting session with him. Soon the sessions became weekly, then twice and three times a week.”Kusterer became her coach when Strzykala, met her at the 2022 World Championships, seven months after her first international appearance. “Sabine saw mistakes everywhere. She gave me detailed instructions on what to do and all those mistakes have magically disappeared.”Strzykala competes in the German Bundesliga for KSV Grunstadt. She will keep going in the sport as long as she can balance her training with her job as an environmental scientist for the Luxembourg government.Turkey fared much better in the women’s 45kg when two 20-year-olds finished 1-2, Cansu Bektas and Gamze Altun.Bektas continued her phenomenal run of success despite failing with her final two attempts when she looked sure to register career-best numbers.  She is a double world and continental junior champion and today she won her second senior European title on 75-88-163, equalling her best total. Altun made 65-92-157, and Marta Garcia from Spain was third on 72-84-156. By Brian

Achilleas Tsogas appointed as new IWF CEO

The IWF is happy to announce the hiring of Achilleas Tsogas, as CEO of our International Federation, taking his functions from March 1, 2024 at the headquarters in Lausanne (SUI). With an extensive and solid experience in Sports Management, Mr Achilleas was previously working at the International Olympic Committee for more than eight years, firstly in the Olympic Games department, in the Youth Olympic Games unit and successfully delivered three Youth Olympic Games before transitioning to the sports department. Within the summer sports team, Achilleas was responsible for the combat sports, as well as for weightlifting, and the key contact person for all elements related to the Olympic Movement for the relevant International Federations. Before his IOC involvement, the new IWF CEO held several managerial roles in the organising committees of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but also in other international, renowned events around the globe, namely the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Mediterranean Games, Arab Games and European Games. Originally a judo athlete and member of the Greek national team, he relocated to Australia and became a member of the Sport department of the organising committee of the Olympic Games Sydney 2000. Following that, he became the sport’s competition manager at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, having being also successfully involved in the Judo World Championships in 2001, 2003 and 2005, as an additional member of the IJF Sport commission. Mr Achilleas is of Hellenic nationality and is fluent in his Greek and English, while having an intermediate level in French and Japanese. In his native Greece, he was also the man behind the creation and management of several sport clubs around the country. Education-wise, his bachelor degree in Physical Education and Sports Science, obtained in Athens, was complemented by a Masters in Sport Management at the University of Technology, Graduate School of Business, in Sydney (AUS). “We are extremely satisfied with the appointment of Mr Tsogas as our new CEO, as we believe his confirmed experience will be an added-value for the International Weightlifting Federation. In his previous functions at the IOC, he could witness the progress we have made in many essential areas; I am sure he will be pivotal for the reinforcement of our sustained and continuous development,” considered the IWF President Mohammed Jalood. “It is a great pleasure and honour for me to embark on this new exciting journey with the IWF/Weightlifting Family. I have been privileged to undertake diverse sports event positions around the world in which I was able to successfully co-operate with various organisations and groups of people coming from different cultural and sporting backgrounds and look forward to bringing all the experience to the best use in my new role.. I would like to thank President Jalood and the entire Executive Board for the confidence and trust and to ensure them that I will use at the best my experience to drive the IWF to new heights as a global sport and continue to strengthen the position of Weightlifting within the Olympic Movement,” said the new IWF CEO. IWF

African Championships: Samir wins for dominant Egypt, and it’s down to the wire for Nigeria and Madagascar

A rush of winners in the heavier weight categories for men and women took host nation Egypt clear at the top of the medals table at the 2024 African Championships in Ismailia. Sara Samir was among them as she claimed her ninth continental title as a youth, junior and senior. Samir declined her final attempt in the 81kg category after making five good lifts for 113-140-253. Sara Samir (EGY) Like all continental championships this month, this was an Olympic qualifier. Egypt's biggest gain in the rankings was made by Karim Abokahla at 89kg, where his 170-211-381 took him ahead of Italy’s Tokyo medallist Nino Pizzolato into sixth place. That is only 6kg below Abokahla’s best total in the 102kg rankings, where he is just outside the top 10.   Karim Abokahla (EGY) Other Paris-bound Egyptian winners were Neama Said and Halima Abbas. Said, sixth in the 71kg list, moved up to 76kg where she made 100-130-230, and Abbas took the super-heavyweights on 117-145-262. Walid Bidani from Algeria had a bad day in the men’s super-heavyweights, bombing out in clean and jerk after making 203kg in snatch. Bouamr Bilal from Morocco was 51kg behind at halfway, and won on 152-185-337. The news got worse for Bidani when he dropped down the rankings after results at the Asian Championships a day later. Nigeria won two of the women’s Olympic categories but made no gains in the lists and will need improvement at the IWF World Cup in Thailand, which brings the qualifying programme to a close when it ends on April 11. Rafiatu Lawal and Adijat Olarinoye, first and second at 59kg, were both well down on their best qualifying efforts. Lawal made 95-119-214 and Olarinoye 94-115-209 with only two good lifts. Joy Eze had a good chance to move into the top 10 at 71kg but missed her last two attempts. Eze moved up from 19th to 13th in making 104-130-234 but had been lifting more in her preparations. Other nations with work to do in Thailand are Tunisia and Madagascar, both of which have hopes of qualifying two athletes. It will be a huge task for Ghofrane Belkhir, who weighed in without lifting in the women’s 59kg and has a few more weeks to regain full fitness after an injury that has stopped her competing for more than a year. She remains one of only two athletes among 600 in the rankings who have a zero total but could yet qualify with a big effort in Thailand. The other is Enzo Kuworge from the Netherlands in the men’s super-heavyweights, who has also been injured. Ben Hnia (TUN) Another who has had injury problems is Belkhir’s Tunisia team-mate Karem Ben Hnia. He declined three of his attempts in winning the men’s 73kg on 145-175-320. In the Paris rankings he is 1kg ahead of Tojo Andriatsitsohaina from Madagascar, who bombed out in clean and jerk after snatching 146kg. It will be a tense finish in Thailand. Either of them could make the top 10, and if neither makes it they will be head-to-head for a continental place. Madagascar’s other hope is Rosina Randafiarison, who showed signs of improvement in making 74-95-169 in the women’s 49kg. It was her best effort since moving up from 45kg and she has a 4kg lead over Dika Toua from Papua New Guinea in the race for a continental slot. Toua, aiming for a record sixth Olympic Games, competes in the Oceania Championships in New Zealand later this month. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio

Tashkent, Day 8: Man Asaad back from injury to surprise Minasyan – and it’s a good day for Iraq and Japan 

Olympic bronze medallist Man Asaad returned to the international platform for the first time in 14 months and achieved both his aims in an exciting super-heavyweight session in Tashkent – victory in the Asian Championships and a continental record in clean and jerk.  On the final day of competition there were also moves in the rankings by the Iraqi teenager Ali Yusur and the popular Japanese Eishiro “Tank” Murakami, both of whom improved their best qualifying total by 8kg.  At 109kg there was gold for the host nation’s hero Ruslan Nurudinov and a first medal for UAE.  Man Asaad (SYR) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport Asaad’s targets looked optimistic. A shoulder injury plagued him throughout 2023, and to reach them he had to beat the double Asian champion Gor Minasyan from Bahrain, who finished one place ahead of him in Tokyo and is second in the rankings for Paris 2024.  While Asaad has been recovering and training in Damascus, Minasyan has won Asian Games gold, his second Asian title, and been on the podium at the World Championships.  This time he failed with his third snatch and his last two clean and jerks. That left Minasyan on 207-236-443, ahead of Asaad by 14kg. If the Syrian could make 252kg he would have gold and that Asian record. He jumped 15kg to make the lift and declined his final attempt, finishing 192-252-444.  “I’ve done what I set out to do. Now I need to work on my snatch, then I can think about more far-away targets like Paris,” he said. Asaad and Minasyan are so far up the Olympic rankings they do not need to lift in the final qualifier, the IWF World Cup in Thailand which ends on April 11. They may opt for weigh-in only.  Yusur moved one place up the rankings to ninth after a huge improvement on his best clean and jerk. Like Asaad he made only one snatch, finishing 191-234-425 for third place ahead of Rustam Djangabaev from Uzbekistan. “That is 13 kilos more than my best clean and jerk,” said Yusur, 19, who failed with two attempts at a junior snatch world record of 199kg. “Next time there will be more.”  Murakami boosted his qualifying chances when he moved from 12th into the top 10 from the B Group. He was ninth for a couple of hours after making 190-231-421, but dropped down one place when Yusur made 4kg more than him.  “Tank is looking good for Paris!” he said. “I will lift in Thailand and I know I can make more because my national record is 425.”  Hojamuhammet Toycchyev from Turkmenistan, fourth in Tokyo, withdrew from the B Group after weigh-in and needs to improve by about 25kg in Thailand if he is to qualify for Paris. He has been troubled by a right knee injury and has bettered 400kg only once in qualifying, leaving him 15th in the rankings.  Ruslan Nurudinov (UZB) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport Nurudinov has no chance of qualifying for Paris, where there is no 109kg category, and made hard work of his 175-207-382, which was 50kg lower than his best total in a career that began in 2009. The highlight was Olympic gold in 2016. After making his second clean and jerk he retired, and was soon flat out in the warm-up area with ice packs on his back.  Men's +109Kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport “That was painful,” he said. “I’m 32, I have a back injury and I’m feeling my age, but I won’t retire yet. I will continue until November, the World Championships in Bahrain, and try to finish with a medal.” Nurudinov’s 21-year-old team-mate Sharofiddin Amriddinov won the snatch and finished 176-205-381. Amriddinov made all six lifts, as did the only other athlete in the field, Ezzeddin Al Ghafeer from UAE – his country’s first ever medallist at the Asian Championships on 167-201-368. By Brian Oliver

Tashkent, Day 7: Olympic champion Djuraev sheds 25kg and makes huge move in Paris  rankings

Before today Akbar Djuraev had never lifted in the 102kg category. Now he is not only Asian champion at that weight, he is a very strong medal contender for Paris 2024. Olympic 109kg champion Djuraev gave host nation Uzbekistan its best result of the week at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. He won decisively and sent out a strong message to the top two in the Olympic rankings, who did not lift today - world champion Liu Huanhua from China and the 96kg Olympic gold medallist Meso Hassona from Qatar. They were the only two athletes to have hit the 400kg mark before Djuraev did the same, making 180-220-400 to take third place in the rankings. He was happy with the victory but not the total, because he was hoping to do better than Liu’s 404kg and go straight to the top of the list. Akbar Djuraev (UZB) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport “I wanted much more than 400, but I made a couple of technical errors,” said Djuraev, who missed his third snatch on 183kg and his second clean and jerk on 219kg. “The numbers I want in Paris are 190-235.” Djuraev will be keen to outperform Liu. He watched in disbelief at the Asian Games, and was in tears afterwards as Liu made a winning clean and jerk of 233kg to overtake him for gold at 109kg. There was no 102kg at that event and Liu had weighed in at 101.8kg. There is no 109kg category in Paris. After winning Olympic gold and the world title in 2021, Djuraev tried going up rather than down in weight. He was a super-heavyweight at three competitions, the last of which was last year’s Asian Championships in Korea, where he finished third. In nine months since then he has lost 25kg. “It was very, very difficult when I first started trying to lose weight,” said Djuraev, who is ranked sixth in the super-heavyweights. “I was eating so much less than before, I struggled. But now I feel good.” It was a great result for Djuraev but not for anybody else hoping to make ground in the rankings. Five athletes withdrew after weighing in, including Meso, and three more failed to make a total. Jang Yeonhak from Korea, who drops from third to fourth in the rankings, failed with all three clean and jerks. Bekdoolot Rasulbekov from Kyrgyzstan was second, 14kg behind Djuraev. He had a chance to improve his total but dropped his final lift on 218kg and is now seventh. Third-placed Chen Po-Jen from Chinese Taipei also tried to make a move but missed his last two attempts to finish 176-206-382. Women's +87kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport Park Hyejeong completed an impressive hat-trick of wins in the women’s super-heavyweights and will be aiming to hit the 300kg mark at the final Olympic qualifier, the IWF World Cup in Thailand in April which ends on April 11. The 20-year-old Korean won the world title in Saudi Arabia in September, where the Olympic champion and rankings leader Li Wenwen from China had to withdraw after two lifts with an elbow injury. Park then won gold at the Asian Games four weeks later, and today she made 128-165-293 to claim her first senior continental title. Competing twice in quick succession took its toll and Park had a knee injury that disrupted her preparations. “I have been doing my best to get fit,” she said. “I didn’t work any less hard than usual. The knee is better now and I will definitely compete in Thailand because I want 130-70, and in Paris I will lift more.” Park missed her final clean and jerk of 171kg. Her team-mate Son Younghee was second on 127-160-287, and the Indonesian Nural Akmal was third on 110-149-259. Yun Ha Je’s winning total in the women’s 87kg was lower than the champions at 76kg and 81kg. Yun made all six lifts without extending herself to post 100-130-230. Nigora Suvonova from Uzbekistan was second on 101-128-229, and Maghsoudi Kizhan from Iran was third on 96-117-213. By Brian