News

The 16th Asian Games are officially opened!

The spectacular Opening Ceremony for the 16th Asian Games, part of the worldwide Olympic movement and governed by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), took place on Friday November 12 in Guangzhou, China. A record number of about 14,000 athletes from 45 countries and territories are participating in 42 sporting disciplines until November 27. Games officials also announced that during The 16 th Asian Games some 3,989 medals will be awarded. The Opening Ceremony was directed by Chen Weiya, previously director of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and was held outside the main stadium on the Haixinsha Island. The Games are ready to dazzle the three million spectators set to watch all of the competition and billions of TV viewers across Asia and around the World. Officials announced that a record number of doping tests will be carried out at the Games. “The Olympic Council of Asia plans for some 1,500 urine tests and probably more than 200 blood tests at the Asian Games”, according to Zhao Jian, deputy head of China’s Anti-Doping Agency.  

IWF will soon start using ADAMS

In order to facilitate the setup and to familiarize with the System the IWF will distribute logins to all NFs in the course of November. ADAMS will become obligatory for all IWF National Federations from the 1st of April 2011 For more information about ADAMS go to http://www.wada-ama.org/en/ADAMS/and for help please contact

Mediterranean Weightlifting Cup in Malta

The 5th Men's and Women's Mediterranean Weightlifting Cup was held in Bormla, Malta from the 22nd until the 25th of October 2010.   Lifters out of 9 countries participated to the competition. According to the Team Classification, Turkey finished as first followed by Italy, Israel and Malta who managed to take the respectable 4th place. All teams received a participation Trophy.   Dr. Tamás Aján, IWF President attended the competition that took place in the Cottonera Sports Complex. Besides him Dr. Hasan Akkus, Vice President of the IWF, Dr. Ammar Addidi President of the Mediterranean Games, Maurizio Lo Buono President of the Mediterranean Weightlifting Confederation and Dr.Khaled Mehmed Mahlhel President of African Weightlifting Federation also attended the wonderfully organized event.     Under the IWF Development Program, the Malta Weightlifting Association also organized a seminar during the Cup about “New skills for developing Weightlifting”.   The course for trainers and athletes coming from the Mediterranean Sea area was very successful, and was based on scientific evaluation methods with the aim of improving sports performance.   It created the opportunity of learning and promoting the acquisition of useful technical skills and knowledge. Representatives from all present countries attended the high quality course.   You can check the results on the official website of the Malta Weightlifting

Pawina’s Wedding

The Youth Olympic Games Athlete Role Model, Ms. Pawina THONGSUK was wearing her graceful bridal gown on November 4th in Bangkok, Thailand where she married to Mr. Sares LIMKANGWANMONGKOL, former member of the national fencing team at the Army Sport Club in Bangkok. After winning the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in the 75kg bodyweight category, the now 31 year old weightlifter finished first at the 2005 World Weightlifting Championships in the 63kg. Her husband, Sares gold medalist in fencing at the Southeast Asian Games and bronze medalist at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar is now working as a television sport correspondent for MCOT. They first met during the 2002 Asian Games held in Busan, Korea and ever since then the two sportsmen worked on establishing the bond of their common life. The Weightlifting Family is pleased to congratulate to the newly wed couple and wishes a happy married life to

IF Debrief of the very first YOG

The Singapore Youth Olympic Games IF Debrief was held on Wednesday the 3rd of October 2010 in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. The meeting was led by Mr. Sergei Bubka, IOC Member and Chairman of the IOC Coordination Committee for YOG. Representatives of SYOGOC, ASOIF and the International Federations attended the session. The IWF was represented by President Dr. Tamas Ajan, and Competition Director Mr. Attila Adamfi. All IFs emphasized that the first edition of the Youth Olympic Games was a great success thanks to the devoted work of the Singapore Organizing Committee. Beside the key positive factors, serious conversations were launched about issues to improve for the next edition of the Youth Olympic Games. Participants discussed among others Qualification, including allocation process of Universality Places, Age limits and International Federation involvement in the Cultural and Education

Weightlifting Video competition for the inaugural California-Celt Invitational Challenge

A new way for Lifters to enjoy communication and participation within our "weightlifting family"! On Saturday November 6th a combined team of Irish and Scottish lifters will compete in the inaugural California-Celt Invitational Challenge against the might of California weightlifting. The competition, which has been sanctioned by USAW, Weightlifting Ireland and the BWLA, will be the first time that teams will compete from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The competition will take place over the internet at 6pm Scottish/Irish time and 10am California time. It will be broadcast live via Skype and will see eight male weightlifters from California, including US team members Don Shankle who won a bronze medal at the 2010 Pan-American Weightlifting Championships, competing against a combined Irish-Scottish team which includes Peter Kirkbride of Scotland who won silver at the 2010 Commonwealth games in Delhi. The idea for the concept competition came about when Irish weightlifter Barry Kinsella spent a fortnight training in the United States in early 2010, which included a week's training with top US coach Glenn Pendlay at California Strength. Friendships were made, rivalries formed and the rest will soon be history. The Celtic Team is made up from weightlifters from East Coast Barbell in Bray, Dublin and from the Kilmarnock Club in Scotland, coached by top Scottish coach Charlie Hamilton. The California team is made up with weightlifters from across the great state of California, including the top lifters from California Strength and will be coached by Glenn Pendlay. The competition will be decided on the total of each teams Sinclair formulas and results can be found at