News

IWF mourns the passing of Frédéric Donzé

The International Weightlifting Federation is deeply saddened by the death of WADA Chief Operating Officer, Frédéric Donzé. He will be hugely missed. For twenty years, he was a passionate advocate for clean sport and a protector of clean athletes. More than this, Fred was a good friend. The IWF expresses its most sincere condolences to Fred’s colleagues, friends and

WADA announces candidates for 2022 Athlete Council election

Further to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) communications of 30 May 2022 and 6 July 2022, calling for interested candidates for the upcoming election for eight positions on the Agency’s new 20-member Athlete Council, WADA is pleased to announced that it received 34 eligible nominations for the eight seats (referred to as Group 2 – see below). WADA President Witold Bańka said: “We are excited by the number of athletes that have expressed interest in becoming members of the Athlete Council. It is clear that athletes are ready to embrace the opportunity for their voices to be heard and their views to be integrated into WADA’s governance and decision-making processes.” The 34 candidates are listed below in alphabetical order by name. A consolidation of the athlete profiles, with additional details can be found in one document here.   Name Sport Nationality Nominating International FederationAthlete Commission 1 BATES, Evan USA International Skating Union (ISU) 2 BENGTSSON, Gunnar Sweden World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) 3 BERRER, Michael Germany International Tennis Federation (ITF) 4 ĆOSIĆ, Ivan Croatia World ParaVolley (WPV) 5 EGAN, Clare USA Biathlon (IBU) 6 GARCIA G., Andrés Guatemala Kickboxing (WAKO) 7 GIBSON, Sean Ireland World Lacrosse (WL) 8 GOMEZ, Inaki Canada World Athletics (WA) 9 HARSS, Jennifer Germany International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) 10 HEDMAN, Deta England World Darts Federation (WDF) 11 HEGYI, Dora Hungary International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) 12 HERNANDEZ CUELLAR, Ana Sophia Guatemala World Pentathlon (UIPM) 13 HORN, Martin Germany World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS) 14 KIT, Kristen Canada World Rowing (WR-FISA) 15 KNOERR, Jérémy Thailand International Ski Mountaineering Fed. (ISMF) 16 KONSTANTINOVA, Sandra Russia International Wushu Federation (IWUF) 17 LIM, Tiffani Malaysia International Esports Federation (IESF) 18 MAY, Bill USA International Swimming Federation (FINA) 19 MAZDZER, Christopher USA Federation of International Luge (FIL) 20 MBEPA GAULOU, Antony Desire Rep of Congo International Kurash Association (IKA) 21 ODUBER, Randolph Aruba/ Netherlands World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) 22 O'LEARY, Patrick Ireland International Canoe Federation (ICF) 23 OSEI, Forrester Christopher Ghana International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) 24 PLECHAN, Agata Poland International Floorball Federation (IFF) 25 REGO, Emmanuel Fernando Scheffer Rego Brazil International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) 26 RIPPEL, Cassio Brazil International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) 27 RISKALLA, Rodolpho Brazil Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) 28 SABLJAK, Ella Australia International Wheelchair Basketball Fed. (IWBF) 29 SCOTT, Thomas USA World Karate Federation (WKF) 30 TAN, Yuhan Belgium Badminton World Federation (BWF) 31 VAN DEN BERG, Jan South Africa International Practical Shooting Confed. (IPSC) 32 VIDAL HERRERA, Nilo Spain World Squash Federation (WSF) 33 WYATT, Marcus Great Britain International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Fed. (IBSF) 34 ZECCHINI, Alessia Italy World Underwater Federation (CMAS) Eligibility To be eligible for nomination, athletes were required to meet eligibility criteria, as outlined in Article 4 of the WADA Athlete Council Election Procedure. These included: being an International-Level Athlete as defined by the World Anti-Doping Code, within the last nine years, and being from the same sport as the International Federation Athlete Commission (IF AC) nominating them. In addition, the IF AC nominating an athlete was required to meet eligibility criteria, as outlined in Article 3 of the Election Procedure.  All 34 candidates were reviewed and confirmed by the Election Scrutineer. To be eligible to vote in the election, all IF ACs were to meet the same criteria as an IF AC nominating a candidate. All IF ACs were advised of the candidate list on 29 July 2022, and were then asked to advise if they wished to vote in the election, and if so, to confirm they were eligible to vote. A total of 61 IF ACs have been confirmed by the Election Scrutineer as able to vote. Election The election will be held virtually via an online voting platform between 29-31 August 2022. Only those IF ACs registered and deemed eligible will be able to vote. The elected candidates will be confirmed by the Election Scrutineer on 1 September and will be announced by WADA shortly after. WADA Athlete Committee Chair Ben Sandford said: “We are definitely off to a good start with the elections for the Athlete Council. Athletes need to be at the core of what WADA does and there is a strong drive within the athlete community worldwide to be more involved and improve athlete representation within anti-doping. It’s great to see so many athletes stepping up wanting to be involved and meet the challenge.” Council Composition The new Athlete Council will be composed of athletes’ representatives chosen by athletes and grouped as follows:  Group 1: Five athletes appointed by the International Olympic Committee’s and International Paralympic Committee’s Athlete Commissions; Group 2: Eight athletes elected by the Athlete Commissions of International Federations (IFs); and Group 3: Seven other athletes, to be selected by an appointment panel made up by a majority of athletes, to fill skills and diversity gaps. Group 3 A call for interest for the Group 3 athletes will be announced in early September 2022. All eligible athletes, including candidates for Group 2 who did not get elected, will be able to apply. Candidates will then be selected by the appointment panel based on a skills and diversity analysis. For more information on the Athlete Council, please visit WADA’s dedicated webpage. Source:

Final Day at the Islamic Solidarity Games

The 5th day of the weightlifting competitions was packed with top level athletes including World and Olympic Champions breaking Games Records. Uzbekistan shines on the final day winning 3 of the 5 categories in Total. Already in the first, Women’s 87kg category, 2022 Junior World Champion and 2021 World Championships Silver medallist Tursunoy Jabborova representing Uzbekistan grabbed the Gold medal with 235kg. 2021 African Champion Meukeugni Noumbissi Clementine from Cameroon won the Silver medal lifting 211kg, while the Bronze with 171kg went to Kanymzhan Almazbek Kyzy representing Kyrgyzstan. In the Men’s 102kg category 2021 World Champion Rasoul Motamedi Sedeh from Islamic Republic of Iran left no doubt about his desire for the Gold medal lifting 400kg and setting 3 new Games Record. Kazakh athlete Artyom Antropov, 2020 Asian Championships Bronze medallist lifter 386kg for the Silver medal and Bekdoolot Rasulbekov from Kyrgyzstan achieved Bronze with 385kg. Nobody could get even close to World and Olympic Champion Ruslan Nurudinov from Uzbekistan in the Men’s 109kg category lifting 417kg and 3 Games Records for the second Gold medal for Uzbekistan on the final day. Iranian athlete Peyman Jan achieved 382kg for the Silver medal and the Bronze went to his teammate Mehdi Karami with 380kg. World and Olympic Champion Akbar Djuraev from Uzbekistan moved up to +109kg in order to maximise the Gold medals for Uzbekistan successfully lifting 446kg, winning the 3rd Gold for Uzbekistan. Interesting to note the same difference of 35kg in front of the runner-up like his teammate in 109kg. Silver medal with 411kg went to 2022 Junior World Champion and 2018 Youth Olympic Champion Alireza Yousefi representing Islamic Republic of Iran, while the Bronze went to Hojamuhammet Toychyyev from Turkmenistan achieving the same result of 411kg. The last competition of the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games, Women’s +87 category was won by Asian Championships Bronze medallist Aizada Muptilda from Kazakhstan with 266kg. Her teammate, Lyubov Kovalchuk won the Silver medal with 261kg and Indonesian Nurul Akmal achieved the Bronze medal lifting

Day 4 at the Islamic Solidarity Games

A busy competition day included 5 categories, 2 Gold medals for host nation and further Games Records. Already in the first competition in Women’s 71kg, the 2020 Asian Championships Silver medallist, Gulnabat Kadyrova from Turkmenistan made a new Games Record in Snatch and Total and won the Gold medal with 225kg. Silver medal with 216kg and a Games Record in Clean&Jerk was achieved by Aysel Ozkan representing the host nation. Indonesian Restu Anggi won the Bronze medal with 210kg. 2021 World Championships Silver medallist Sarvarbek Zafarjonov representing Uzbekistan left no doubt about his performance winning the Gold medal with 366kg and breaking all 3 Games Record in the Men’s 89kg. Silver medal went to Emil Moldodosov from Kyrgyzstan with 354kg while the Bronze was achieved by Kazakh athlete Assylzhan Bektay with 353kg. In the Men’s 96kg category 2019 Asian Champion Reza Beiralvand from Islamic Republic of Iran lifted 361kg for the Gold medal. Sunnatilla Usarov representing Uzbekistan achieved Silver with 354kg in front of the 2019 Youth World Champion from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ali Alothman lifting 349kg. 2022 European Championships Bronze medallist Dilara Ucan from Turkey won the Gold medal with 220kg and broke the Games Record in Snatch. Kazakh athlete Aray Nurlybekova lifted 215kg for the Silver medal and 2021 African Champion from Cameroon, Eyenga Mbo`Ossi Jeanne Gaelle won the Bronze medal by lifting 214kg. 2022 Junior World Champion Dilara Narın won the 2nd Gold medal of the day for the host nation in Women’s 81kg with 229kg. Aisha Omarova from Kazakhstan achieved Silver medal with 226kg while Seyedehelham Hosseini representing Islamic Republic of Iran achieved Bronze by lifting 223kg. The last day of the weightlifting competitions at the Games will include further 2 women’s and 3 men’s

Day 3 at the Islamic Solidarity Games

The middle day of the 5 days long competition started with 2 men’s categories, M73kg and M81kg. Rizki Juniansyah from Indonesia, the 2021 and 2022 Junior World Champion won the Gold medal with 340kg, with an impressive 25kg lead in front of 2022 Junior World Championships Silver medallist, Alexey Churkin representing Kazakhstan. Bronze medal went to Abdulrahman Albeladi from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lifting 296kg in Total. The men’s 81kg was not only the biggest category with 16 athletes but possible one of the strongest as well since only World Championship medallists stood on the podium. Mir Mostafa Javadi Aliabadi from Islamic Republic of Iran won the top of the podium with 364kg, who is also the 2021 World Championships Silver medallist. Indonesian Rahmat Erwin Abdullah achieved the Silver medal with 355kg who moved up from 73kg category where he is the 2021 World Champion. 2021 Junior World Champion Mukhammadkodir Toshtemirov representing Uzbekistan lifted 354kg for the Bronze medal. The only women’s category of the day (64kg) brought the Total Gold and Bronze medal for the host nation. Nuray Gungor, Silver medallist at the 2022 European Championships lifted 218kg for the Gold medal. Indonesian Tsabitha Alfiah Ramadhani won the Silver medal with 214kg. Bronze medal went to 2019 Junior European Champion, Berfin Altun from Turkey achieving

Day 2 at the Islamic Solidarity Games

Four bodyweight categories were organised on the second day of Weightlifting when spectators could also witness a Games Record! In the Women’s 55kg category Natasya Beteyob from Indonesia achieved the Gold medal with 195kg. The Silver medal went to Kristina Shermetova from Turkmenistan with 194kg, while the Bronze was won by Poupak Basami from Islamic Republic of Iran with 165kg. Women’s 59kg category was the second women's competition in 59kg where the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Bronze medallist, Zulfiya Chinshanlo from Kazakhstan achieved the Gold medal with 220kg. Multiple African Champion, 2021 IWF World Championship Silver medallists and 2022 Commonwealth Games Gold medallist Adijat Adenike Olarinoye representing Nigeria won the Silver medal with 202kg. Nelly from Indonesia got the Bronze with 197kg. Men’s competition started with 61kg on the 2nd day where Ricko Saputra achieved the second Gold medal of the day for Indonesia with 291kg. 2021 IWF World Championships Bronze medallist Seraj Alsaleem from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia won Silver with 277kg and Bronze medal went to Otepbergen Aliyev from Kazakhstan with 271kg. The Men’s 67kg was confidently won by 2018 & 2019 Junior World Champion Ergashev Adkhamjon from Uzbekistan with 314kg, in front of his teammate and 2021 World Champion Doston Yokubov who achieved only 305kg. The Bronze medal was won by Yusuf Fehmi Genç from Turkey with 305kg who also broke Games Record in Clean & Jerk in front of the home