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Tunis, Final Day: Egypt’s Elsayed signs off with record at African Championships

Egypt won three more titles at the African Championships in Tunis, including both the men's and women's super-heavyweights, to round off a week when their top athletes boosted their standings in Olympic qualifying. There was a surprise in the men's event, a battle between the Olympians Walid Bidani from Algeria and Abdelrahman Elsayed from Egypt. Bidani, going for his seventh senior African title, made a good start with a first snatch of 192 kilograms but then bombed out with five straight no-lifts. Elsayed, who competed at Beijing 2008 and took a long, doping-related break from the sport in 2011, broke his own continental record in clean and jerk as he made 185-243-428 to become African champion for the first time. He failed with a final attempt at 245kg. Elsayed finished 88kg clear of second-placed Bilal Bouamr from Morocco on 340kg, with another 10kg back to bronze medallist Lahamadi Maik from Tunisia. The host nation had a popular winner when Aymen Bacha, much to the delight of a very noisy band of his friends from the Tunisian military, won at 109kg - the weight at which he finished ninth at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. "There was a big crowd when I competed at the Mediterranean Games but I have never had support like that," said Bacha. He joined the army at the start of the year and will be in long-term.  The Tunisian Weightlifting Federation helped him to plan his future as it seeks to find employment for athletes after their lifting days are over. Two South Africans made up the field of three and their big team - which included athletes aged 43 and 40 - were able to celebrate on the stage after the final podium presentations. Antony Swanepoel was second on 123-147-270 and Johannes Beukman, who was 34 this week, third on 120-145-265. It was not a good day for Egypt’s women’s super heavyweight star Halima Sedky, who had to make her final clean and jerk to post a total.  She did it, after two failures on 145kg, to win on 115-145-260, which was 15kg down on her first Paris qualifying effort. Estelle Momeni from Cameroon was second with a total of 176kg and Amina Yahiamamoun from Algeria third on 175kg. Egypt had a 1-2 in the women’s 87kg, where Samar Hussein made 105-124-229 and Fatmn Mohamed 97-125-222.  Marie Sunee from Mauritius was third on 85-106-191. Tunisia, the only nation with a maximum team of 20, won the most medals by far but Egypt, who sent 11 lifters and did not compete in the lighter weight categories, won all the seven Olympic categories they contested. This was the third continental championships within five weeks, all of them qualifiers for Paris 2024. Among some outstanding performances in Tunis, Sara Samir led the way with her sweep of African records on Wednesday in totalling 268kg at 81kg, taking her up to second place in the Paris rankings.  Another Egyptian, Karim Abokahla, went into the top 10 at 89kg after his 375kg total a few hours later and Yasser Usama went up to the top 25 in winning at 102kg. Rafiatu Lawal from Nigeria also hit the top 10 in winning the women’s 59kg. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Check the updated Olympic Qualification Ranking here Complete coverage of the event: Tunis, Day 4: Egyptian weightlifter Samir “can win in Paris” says IWF President after her Tunis triumph – International Weightlifting Federation Tunis, Day 3: Egypt, Tunisia and Nigeria make moves in Paris weightlifting rankings – International Weightlifting Federation (iwf.sport) Tunis, Day 1 & 2: Azerbaijan weightlifter claims continental championships victory – in Africa – International Weightlifting Federation

Tunis, Day 4: Egyptian weightlifter Samir “can win in Paris” says IWF President after her Tunis triumph

Sara Samir made a significant move in the Paris 2024 ranking lists when she won her third continental senior title at the African Championships in record-breaking style. If the Rio 2016 medallist continues to build on her 117-151-268 performance at 81 kilograms, China may opt out of this category, especially with Norway’s 87kg world champion Solfrid Koanda dropping down to join in at the next Olympic qualifier in Cuba next month. The IWF President Mohammed Jalood, interviewed on the stage after he presented the medals, told the audience at La Goulette Hall: "It is going to be very difficult for anyone to beat Sara. "I believe she will win the gold medal in Paris for Africa and the Arab nations." No African woman has ever won Olympic gold in weightlifting, and until Samir’s 69kg bronze medal at Rio 2016 no woman from the Arab world had ever won a weightlifting medal of any colour. While Samir did not displace China’s world champion Liang Xiaomei at the top of the rankings, she moved up to second place ahead of Olympic 87kg gold medallist Wang Zhouyu with a six-from-six performance. Samir, 25, made it very clear that she is capable of making up the seven kilograms needed to match Liang’s best total to date, made at the Asian Championships in Korea a week ago. Her first chance to do it could come at the IWF World Championships in Saudi Arabia in September, as she said she will not compete next month in the IWF Grand Prix in Cuba, which Koanda has targeted for her first try at 81kg. With a dominant performance at the Asian Championships, Chinese lifters moved to the top of all five women’s Olympic weight categories and had the top two in three of them, including this one, until today. The maximum quota for Paris is three men and three women, so China will be wary of categories where there is a good chance they can be beaten. Samir was fourth in the rankings before today even though her 261kg total was made in the lighter 76kg category at which she won the world title in December. "When you put on weight you feel more power," Samir said after her victory, in which she set a sweep of continental records. "At 76kg I was always having to lose about two kilograms before a competition, but now I feel stronger - and I can eat breakfast before weigh-in!" There were plenty of entries in the categories below and above 81kg but only one other competing against Samir - Cameroon’s Jeanne Eyenga who made 96-121-217. The Seychelles had a rare victory in the women’s 76kg when Bouchra Hirech from Algeria failed with her final attempt to overtake Joelite Coloma, who made 85-100-185.  Hirech was second on 81-103-184 and Rayssa Djifack from Cameroon was third on 77-103-180. There was more good news for Egypt to come in the later sessions. Last year's 96kg champion Karim Abokahla went straight into the Paris top 10 with his first qualifying effort at 89kg, making five from six for 167-208-375. There could be more to come because Abokahla, 26, made 7kg more at this weight at the Mediterranean Games last year. Faris Touari from Algeria was a distant second on 160-192-352, which will take him up 10 places to 25th, and another Egyptian, Islam Aboelwafa, was third on 161-190-351. The age range among the nine athletes was 27 years, from the impressive 16-year-old Cameroonian Tanga Onana, who made a 320kg total, to the 43-year-old South African Andre Gadney on 259kg. Egypt had a third win on the day when Yasser Usama, third in last year’s IWF World Junior Championships at 96kg, took the 102kg title with a six-from-six 168-208-376 - which will put him into 32nd place in the Paris rankings. The 24-year-old Algerian Aymen Touari, 24, who won the African youth title as a 13-year-old 10 years ago, came close to making his final attempt at 211kg but failed and finished second on 166-203-369 ahead of another Egyptian, Mahmoud Selim, on 164-200-364. Salim Albagor from Algeria won the men’s 96kg on 152-180-332. By Brian Oliver, Inside the

IWF World Cup to be staged in Phuket (THA) in April 2024

The IWF and the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Federation recently signed the Hosting Agreement of the 2024 IWF World Cup, to be held in Phuket, from April 2-11. In accordance with the IWF Qualification Rules for the 2024 Paris Games, this is the last event in the selection pathway for the Olympic celebration in the French capital. Moreover, it is one of the two compulsory competitions for all lifters aiming at taking part in the next edition of the Games, together with the IWF World Championships, to be staged in Riyadh (KSA), from September 2-17, 2023. The additional events where the IWF athletes can have a possibility to book their “ticket” to Paris are the 2022 IWF World Championships (held last December in Bogota, COL), the five 2023 continental championships (the Pan-American, European and Asian editions already took place, the African showcase is presently being held in Tunis, and the Oceania event will be organised in November in Honiara, Solomon Islands). Moreover, two 2023 IWF Grand Prix are also part of this list – the initial one in La Havana (CUB), from June 8-18, and the second one in Doha (QAT), in the first half of December. Finally, the 2024 continental championships, to be organised before the IWF World Cup in Thailand, will also be a possible opportunity for all those aiming at Olympic participation next year in Paris. “We had very encouraging and positive discussions with the hosts of the World Cup in Phuket and I am pretty confident that the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Federation will do its utmost to welcome in the best possible conditions our athletes, coaches and officials. This is a mandatory event in the qualification for Paris 2024, so the organisational level of this World Cup must be extremely high. The commitment of the Thai authorities ensures that they will deliver an excellent competition!” declared Antonio Urso, the IWF Secretary General.

Tunis, Day 3: Egypt, Tunisia and Nigeria make moves in Paris weightlifting rankings

Weightlifters from Egypt, Tunisia and Nigeria made progress in the rankings for Paris 2024 with good performances in two Olympic weight categories at the African Championships in Tunis. Until two days ago the only African nation with athletes ranked in the top 10 was Egypt, which had Sara Samir at 81kg, and the women’s and men’s superheavyweights Halima Abelazim Sedky and Abdelrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. Rafiatu Lawal went joint 10th for Nigeria at 59kg on Monday, and while her team-mates Joy Eze and Joseph Umoafia did not make it that far they moved up impressively in the women’s 71kg and men’s 73kg today. Karem Ben Hnia won his eighth continental title in the 73kg class and if he had made more than two good lifts the popular Tunisian might have gone straight into the top 10. He is slightly lower than that after he was timed out on one attempt at an African record clean and jerk and failed with the next one too, finishing 146-180-326. One record he did set was for the most photos here when he was asked to pose with many friends and fans. After smiling through dozens of photos Ben Hnia said, “For the past month I have been training seriously only on my upper body because of pain in my left leg. “I know my body, I know what I can do. Before that I was training well enough to make 340. “I will be fine for Cuba (the next qualifier) next month and I promise you when I lift there I will be in the top 10 in the world.” Second-placed Samir Fardjallah from Algeria moved up a few places in the rankings with 141-174-315 and 20-year-old bronze medallist Umoafia is around 30th after his first 300-plus total on 142-170-312. The top two in the men’s 73kg Paris rankings, Rahmat Erwin and Rizki Junyansyah from Indonesia, both won gold at the weekend in the Southeast Asian Games. Junyansyah totalled 347kg, the same number he made at the IWF World Championships in Colombia in December, to win in Cambodia. Erwin, the world champion, went up to 81kg and totalled 359kg. Both men skipped the Asian Championships to win gold in Cambodia and said they would return to Paris qualifying in Cuba next month. In the women’s 71kg there were no Africans higher than 86th in the list until Neama Said from Egypt and teenager Eze finished well clear of their rivals with totals of 229kg and 227kg. Both will now be ranked just outside the top 10. Said, 20, was inspired by Sara Samir to take up weightlifting and is the only Egyptian woman to have matched her world title successes since she first competed internationally in 2018, when she took a silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games and won continental youth and junior titles. “Neama is from Al-Mahsama, a village near the Suez Canal that’s close to where Sara Samir is from,” said Mahmoud Mahgoub, the Weightlifting Federation of Africa (WFA) first vice-president who twice lifted at the Olympic Games for Egypt. “When Sara won her bronze medal at the Rio Olympics (the first by a woman from the Arab world) suddenly all the parents in that region wanted their daughters to be like her and we had a lot of new weightlifters. “Neama is the only one from Egypt besides Sara who has won world titles as a youth, junior and senior. “She is one of our best and still very young.” If Said had not failed, just, with her final attempt she would have gone straight into the Paris top 10. She made 102-126-229 and Eze finished 102-125-227, both from four good lifts. Ketty Lent from Mauritius was third on 89-108-197. Nigeria is struggling for funding and the team of five here travelled at the personal expense of national federation president Ibrahim Abdul, a successful businessman. “Weightlifting is not a big sport in Nigeria and we get very little support,” said Ibrahim. “We have a strong team, we have plenty of time to improve, and I hope our results will help us to find some funding.” In the men’s 81kg Ameur Messaoudi from Algeria made a career-best 145-170-315 for victory ahead of the Tunisians Hamza Ben Amor on 137-168-305 and Slim Bchini on 138-162-300. There was a delay of several minutes because of a dispute over a wrongly entered first attempt, which appeared to affect Bchini when he finally came out late to lift and failed. Two minutes later Bchini celebrated long and loud after making his final attempt, as did Ben Amor, but both men were some way behind when Messaoudi made 170kg at the first try after everyone else had finished. By Brian Oliver, Inside the

Tunis, Day 1 & 2: Azerbaijan weightlifter claims continental championships victory – in Africa

A weightlifter from Europe, who lost an Olympic qualifying opportunity when an Armenian burned the Azerbaijan flag, finished first in the African Championships today in Tunis (TUN). Isa Rustamov, 23, made a career-best effort to finish ahead of eight African competitors in the men’s 67kg category with a total that would have earned him a bronze medal at the European Championships last month. But Rustamov did not lift in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, because the Azerbaijan team withdrew before a lift was made after the controversial flag-burning incident at the Opening Ceremony. After that, Azerbaijan’s government ordered the weightlifting team to fly home. Because continental championships are qualifiers for Paris 2024, Azerbaijan had lost a chance to improve their rankings, so the IWF arranged for the same athletes entered in Yerevan to compete instead in Tunis. An Azerbaijan team official said Rustamov’s preparations had been targeted for April, but the extra weeks of training had not adversely affected him. But for a jury overturn of his final attempt, Rustamov would have had a six-from-six total of 306kg, enough for a silver medal in the European competition. The no-lift decision left him on 138-164-302, better than the African winner by 22kg. No medals are awarded to Azerbaijan’s “guest athletes” in Tunis, and the gold went to Ayoub Salem from Tunisia on 126-154-280. Akram Chekhchoukh from Algeria was second and another Tunisian, Mouhamed Ben Hadj, third with totals of 279kg and 273kg. There was an impressive result for Nigeria earlier in the women’s 59kg. Despite missing her first snatch and first clean and jerk, Commonwealth Games 59kg winner Rafiatu Lawal came out top with a 217kg total – enough to put her joint tenth in the Paris 2024 rankings. Lawal is the only African lifter from anywhere other than Egypt to feature in the top 10 in any men’s or women’s weight category. She broke continental records in snatch and total to make 95-122-217, finishing ahead of her team-mate Adijat Olarinoye, who won Commonwealth Games gold at 55kg last year. Olarinoye made 93-118-211. Three of the sessions featured only two lifters, the women’s 45kg and 55kg and men’s 55kg. The champions in those classes were respectively Nadia Katbi from Algeria on 51-65-116, Eya Aquadi from Tunisia on 72-93-165, and Davis Niyoyita from Uganda on 95-120-215. Of the three athletes competing in the women’s 49kg category, Maha Fejraslam from Morocco came out top on 64-79-143. Tunisia had a 1-2 finish in a more competitive women’s 64kg, where Chaima Rhamouni made 90-108-198 ahead of Jawaher Gesmi on 86-107-193. Both women had chances to go beyond 200kg but missed their final two clean and jerks. Ruby Malvina from the Seychelles was third on 80-107-187. Tunisia also took the men’s 61kg, in which Amine Bouhijbha finished 85kg clear of his nearest challenger on 117-140-257. By Brian Oliver, Inside the

Jinju, Final Day: Bahrain, China and young Korean shine at Asian Championships

Gor Minasyan was in record-breaking form to claim the super-heavyweight title and another two continental records on the final day of the Asian Championships here in Jinju. Minasyan has made 14 good lifts in 18 attempts for Bahrain and has set Asian records with nine of them. This was also the first sweep of golds in his career. He was not alone in making his mark - Alireza Yousefi from Iran claimed junior world records in clean and jerk and total. "Gor is the ultimate professional, so dedicated to his sport, so hard-working - if anybody deserves this it’s him," said Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq, President of the Bahrain Weightlifting Federation. Eshaq, a member of the Asian Weightlifting Federation Executive Board added: "And what a great way to end a great Championships - with the Bahrain national anthem playing." Minasyan is second in the Paris 2024 rankings behind the Georgian world record holder Lasha Talakhadze, who will be the only lifter from outside Asia at the top of any of the 10 ranking lists when they are updated after this event. He improved his first qualifying effort by two kilograms, setting Asian snatch records with lifts number two and three, and the total record with his final clean and jerk.  The large audience, including the VIPs, clapped along to a very loud playing of Boney M’s Rivers of Babylon before Minasyan came out and made his records. Minasyan, who previously represented Armenia, made five from six and finished on 217-247-464. The next four finishers were separated by only two kilograms. Rustam Djangabaev was second on 196-241-437, and his Uzbekistan team-mate Akhbar Djuraev finished third on 195-242-437. Two Iranians were next, snatch silver medallist Ayat Sharifi on 197-239-436 and clean and jerk silver medallist Yousefi with those records in making 190-246-436. Olympic champion Li Wenwen had her ninth straight victory in the women’s super-heavyweights, and there was significant movement in the Paris rankings from the two Koreans who finished behind her. Park Hyejeong made six from six for a very impressive 127-168-295, a big improvement on her effort at the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships where she finished eighth on 274kg. The 20-year-old finished ahead of her training partner and friend Son Younghee, who is 10 years older, on 120-169-289. "We train together and cheer each other on," said Park, who took up weightlifting eight years ago after watching YouTube videos of Korea’s 2008 Olympic champion Jang Mi-ran. "I was too small to watch when Jang won in Beijing, but when I saw the videos I went to the federation and said ‘I want to be a weightlifter’.” Park, who met her hero when she was still at school, said the preparations for Colombia had not been anywhere as near as good as her training for these Championships. "My coach made me do less lifting and more exercising, it went very well and I got a lot of compliments from the training team. That gave me more power, and I am very grateful to them." Li made 140-175-315 to improve her ranking total by five kilograms. She retired after five good lifts and looked capable of plenty more. The finishing order here will now be the one-two-three in the Paris rankings. When Minasyan had made his final lift the tally of world and Asian records at these Championships was 39 in the various age groups, including five senior world records by Chinese athletes Li Dayin, Tian Tao and Liao Guifang. "We have shown the world again that Asia is the strongest continent in weightlifting, and China the strongest country," said Yousef Al Mana, President of the Asian Weightlifting Federation who presented Minasyan’s gold medal on total. "So many records, and such a well-organised competition by hospitable hosts," added Al Mana, who sits on the IWF Executive Board. "I would like to invite my fellow Board members at the IWF to come to Asia and see for themselves what we have to offer, and to help promote our sport. "They are all welcome and I will provide them free accommodation and $1,000 (£803/€918) for their air tickets. We are all one family - please come to Asia and experience the best." By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games Complete coverage of the event: Jinju, Day 8: Gold for Kazakhstan, and Iran’s 2016 Olympic champion Moradi starts Paris quest at 34 – International Weightlifting Federation (iwf.sport) Jinju, Day 7: Good day for hosts Korea and China wins again at Asian Championships – International Weightlifting Federation (iwf.sport) Jinju, Day 6: Three more world records for unstoppable China at Asian Championships – International Weightlifting Federation (iwf.sport) Jinju, Day 5: China’s Liao takes two world records at Asian Championships – International Weightlifting Federation (iwf.sport) Jinju, Day 4: Weightlifting gold for Japan and a women’s medal for Iran at Asian Championships – International Weightlifting Federation (iwf.sport) Jinju, Day 3: Olympic champions beaten as China strike again at Asian Championships – International Weightlifting Federation (iwf.sport) Jinju, Day 2: Records, bombouts and another China 1-2 at Asian Championships – International Weightlifting Federation (iwf.sport) Jinju, Day 1: China and Thailand get Asian Championships off to top-quality start – International Weightlifting Federation