News

Kosovo Weightlifting Federation – Electoral Congress

On 17 January 2021 Kosovo Weightlifting Federation held its Electoral Congress. The Elections were held through the online platform of ZOOM under the supervision of Kosovo Olympic Committee where 15 delegates from the three regions of Kosovo where present. The newly elected Executive Board consists of: Dr. Astrit Hasani, President Arian Zogu, General Secretary Vigan Sekiraca, Member Blerim Kabashaj, Member Yll Boshnjaku, Member According to the KWF constitution the President with the approval of the Executive Board in the next meeting will appoint two (2) Board Members where at least one of them shall be women. The electoral congress also elected Hamit Beqiri as Chairman of Technical Committee and Nita Gjikolli as Chairwoman of Medical Committee. In addition, Bashkim Muhaxheri, Agnesa Maxharri, and Djellza Boshnjaku where elected as members of the Supervisory Council. Source: Kosovo Weightlifting

IWF Expands Scope Of Governance Reform, Adjusts Dates For Constitutional Congress

The IWF Executive Board decided to expand the scope of governance reform and adjusted the date of its forthcoming Constitutional Congress, to accommodate this more ambitious scope for positive change. In place of the constitutional amendments originally envisaged, the independent members of the Reform and Governance Commission have now proposed an entirely new document that replaces the current IWF Constitution. This approach has been welcomed by the IWF Executive Board. The IWF Constitutional Congress has therefore been pushed back to the revised dates of 29 and 30 April 2021.  "Based on a comprehensive look at the IWF's governance by the independent members of our Reform and Governance Commission, it became clear that amendments would not be enough to bring us up to the highest standards and meet the targets suggested to us by the IOC. Instead, complete revision is called for and that is what we will now deliver," said IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani. "It will also be important to ensure our athletes and Member Federations have adequate time to review the comprehensive proposals and comment on them before they vote. Fortunately, the new timeline allows us to still achieve two critical objectives: providing Member Federations with a clear view of the future of IWF's governance while also meeting the IOC's call for comprehensive reform well in advance for post-Tokyo 2020." The IWF Electoral Congress is still planned for 26 and 27 March

IWF Welcomes ITA Prosecution of Weightlifting Anti-Doping Rule Violations

19 January 2021, Lausanne; The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) welcomed the news from the ITA (International Testing Agency) that it is prosecuting anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) against three weightlifters. The prosecutions follow investigations into doping within weightlifting by German broadcaster ARD, by Professor Richard McLaren on behalf of the ITA, and by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). “Placing our trust in the independent professionals of the ITA has been vital in restoring the credibility of weightlifting’s anti-doping efforts and the latest news is a further reminder that we are on the right track,” said IWF Interim President Dr Michael Irani. “The announcement of these prosecutions is a welcome development. There should be no place in our sport for doping.” In its release yesterday [https://ita.sport/], the ITA confirmed cases against Rattikan GULNOI (THA), Dumitru CAPTARI (ROU) and Nijat RAHIMOV (KAZ). The ADRV against Gulnoi is for prohibited substance abuse throughout her career. The ADRVs against Captari and Rahimov are for urine substitution in 2016. All the athletes are provisionally suspended pending resolution of their respective affairs. “The IWF is grateful to the ITA for this follow-up of the outstanding investigations and intelligence, resulting in the ADRVs announced today and with the understanding that further cases may be forthcoming,” continued Irani. “Empowering the ITA to continue working towards the protection of clean weightlifters and the promotion of clean weightlifting, with a renewed contract through to 2024, was an easy decision for us to make last October. Alongside the creation of an independent Disciplinary and Ethics Commission and comprehensive governance reform being prepared under independent legal leadership, the independent delivery of the IWF’s anti-doping programme amply demonstrates how we are writing a welcome new chapter in our sport’s

Elections – Weightlifting Federation of Georgia

The GEOWF has conducted an electoral congress recently where a detailed report of the past 5 years activities was delivered by Kakhi Kahiashvili and his team. The success story was welcomed by the congress delegates and media representative. Kakhi Kakhiashvili was voted to the presidency position and delegates acknowledged an important role of female leader and exceptional qualities by voting Rusudan Muradashvili to the position of General Secretary. Athletes’ interests will be presented by Irakli Turmanidze - as an Executive Board Member. Challenges and opportunities were discussed by the elected board members. GEOWF holds the bold ambitions to leverage its medal count and host the most important international events. Source:

Elections – Malta Weightlifting Association

At the General Meeting of the Malta Weightlifting Association held on Thursday 14th January 2021, the Executive Council was elected to serve a four-year term. Matthew Camilleri was elected as General Secretary, Matthew Abela as Treasurer. Jesmond Caruana kept his position as President together with executive members Rodmar Pulis and Ramona Borg.  The Council thanked the predecessors members for their sterling work. Further the association enhances the role of the sport of weightlifting to continue in the right direction of increasing more young athletes and reaching higher goals in top competitions. Source: Malta Weightlifting

2021 IWF Development Program

IWF is glad to inform the Member Federations that the 2021 IWF Development Program is open. Considering the feedback of last year, the type of projects remain the same and the Federations can apply for assistance in equipment, seminar, event support and covid-19 related expenses. The deadline to submit the applications is 24th February 2021. Details regarding the procedure can be found in the application guidelines which is available here with other related documents. For any queries please