News

Louis Martin MBE was elected as President of BWLA

The BWLA Annual General Meeting elected Louis Martin MBE as President of BWLA. Louis was an outstanding weightlifting competitor from the late 1950's to the early 1970's. During this time, Louis was four World Championship titles 1959, 1961, 1963 and 1965. Louis won silver at the 1964 Olympic Games and bronze at the 1968 Olympic Games, as well a competing in three Commonwealth Games (1962 - 1970). Louis will be a great asset to the BWLA as we enter our Centenary Year in 2010 and prepare for the Olympic Games in 2012. The Annual General Meeting approved the BWLA Annual Report and Accounts for 2008 - 2009. Mike Heath and Neil Binder were elected Vice Presidents, and Jonathan Fuller, Mark Martin, Phil Young, Louise Pennell and Steve Cannon were elected Directors of the Board. (BWLA).

Contact details of BWLA Office

The BWLA offices are relocated to Leeds with World Class Lifting; and Joyce Marufu will take full responsibility for administration services. The new address is: BWLA, 110 Cavendish, Leeds Metropolitan University, Headingley Campus, Leeds, LS6 3QS.Telephone Number: 01138127098. The email for Joyce at present is

Qi Xihui wins women’s +75kg category at National Games

Qi Xihui of Hunan waves to the audience during the awarding ceremony for the women's weightlifting over 75kg category in the 11th Chinese National Games in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province, Oct. 20, 2009. Qi won the gold medal with a total of 324kg.

Olympic champion Cao Lei easily wins gold at Chinese National Games

Olympic champion Cao Lei breezily won the gold medal in the women's 75kg category at the 11th Chinese National Games weightlifting competition on Monday. Cao, 26, winner in the Beijing Olympics, met almost no challenge throughout the competition. She snatched 125kg, jerked 150kg and lifted a total of 275kg to win the gold. Rookie Xiang Yanmei of Hunan, 17, trying to take two attempts at the winning but nearly impossible 160kg, one kilo more than the jerk world record, failed both times. Xiang, placed fifth in the national championships in April, clinched silver at 261kg and the 23-year-old Qu Huijuan of Liaoning took the bronze at the same weight with the body weight

Liu pocketing her third consecutive gold in the quadrennial National Games

In the women's 69kg division, Olympic champion Liu nailed the gold medal in her first jerk attempt, unnecessary to finish the last two attempts. Her coach Ma Wenhua, also the head coach in the national team, persuaded her to stop lifting on the back course. Liu showed disagreement expression in her face, but finally she gave up insisting. "I still have the interest to lift, but my coach asked me to save strength for the world championships," said Liu, three world records holder in this division. "She had injuries in knees and back. It is not necessary to lift more," Ma told Xinhua. She intended to show her rivals, both domestic and abroad, how strong she was. "I could have lifted more weight today if my coach had allowed me," said Liu, who grew up in an apple orchard in Zhaoyuan City, east China's Shandong Province. Liu, representing host Shandong, beat dark horse Chen Ling of Jiangsu to win her third consecutive gold at the 11th Chinese National Games here on Monday. Though Chen took the lead in the snatch, Liu was so strong in the jerk, as she was the last one to lift her first jerk attempt among 13 strongwomen. She steadily hoisted 147kg to knock down the gold medal with a total of 267kg. The winning weight was not too heavy for Liu as she lifted a total of 286kg in Beijing Olympics, a new world record, and 19kg more than Liu's result here. Though declaring her monopoly in the 69kg division, Liu welcomed the new faces like Chen and the bronze medalist Kang Yue. "Chen performed well today, and the bronze medalist is excellent too. Stronger opponent in this division will do good to the development of our Chinese weightlifting," said she. Since winning her first Olympic gold in Athens, Liu has been plagued with a serious elbow injury in the 2006 Worlds in Santo Domingo, which forced her to stay away from the sport for almost one year. Liu returned in 2007 brimming with confidence, Liu overwhelmed the Russian Olympic debutante in the Beijing Olympics, breaking three world records of the women's 69kg division at 128kg in snatch, 158kg in jerk and 286kg in total. "I want to be the first woman to win three gold medals in a row in the Olympic history," said Liu before the National Games. "I felt excited when thinking of making history.It is also a kind of my responsibility, so I finally persuade myself to fight for the London Games."

Teenagers show potiential at Chinese National Games (58 kg, 63 kg)

Two teenagers caused media hype in the women's weightlifting competition as they both overcame veterans to win gold medals at the 11th Chinese National Games on Sunday. Guan Xinlei of Jiangsu, 19, hoisted a winning lift 147kg in her final attempt, seven kilos more than her fifth lift, to knock down defending champion Ouyang Xiaofang to win the 63kg division gold medal with a world-record breaking total result of 265kg. In an earlier match, Li Xueying, at the same age with Guan, beat two world champions Qiu Hongmei and Sun Caiyan to win the women's 58kg division, regarded as one of the young hopefuls for the LondonOlympics. "Guan seldom lifted 147kg in the training, so she is really amazing today. It is very rare that a lifter can produce her best result in an fierce competition," said Cao Xinmin, Guan's coach. Ouyang of Liaoning, world champion in 2006, produced the same result as Guan but had to settle with the silver medal due to the bodyweight disadvantage. The 19-year-old Guan's jerk and total results were five kilos and eight kilos more than the world records of jerk and total respectively. "Finally I became the focus and the most important lifter of theteam after Chen Yanqing retired. That's why I won today," Guan joked. Li Liying, winner in the 69kg division in the last Chinese National Games, pocketed bronze at 257kg. In the 63kg division competition, three lifters, including Ouyang, Guan and Li Liying of Hunan, cracked three world records in stunning 12 times. In women's 58kg, Li survived a tough fight and finished her debut with a total of 251kg, as same as the total world record made by Beijing Olympic champion Chen Yanqing. "I did not have stage fright at all when contesting with two veterans," said Li. Jerk world record holder Qiu Hongmei of Jiangxi, tipped as a favorite to win before the Games, failed the last two attempts and injured her left elbow ligament and had to bring home a silver medal at 246kg. The 35-year-old veteran Sun Caiyan of Liaoning, world champion in 2003, came back with a strong performance to take the bronze at 245kg, before she announced retirement at the press conference. "Today is my last competition. I still love weightlifting, but my physical condition did not allow me to continue," she said. Up till now, 13 of all the 21 women's weightlifting national records are higher than the world records of the same kind. Though bettering the women's weightlifting world records frequently happens in the National Games, the new results will not be counted as the world records because they are not accepted by the International Weightlifting Federation. Source: