News

IWF offers its condolences to the MOSQUERA Family

The IWF would like to offer its deepest condolences to the family of Luis Javier and José David MOSQUERA LOSANO, whose father José Navarino Mosquera suffered a lung infection and passed away this past Sunday, May 17th at 7:45am in Yumbo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. We convey our heartfelt sympathy to all the relatives especially to the two talented weightlifters MOSQUERA LOZANO Luis Javier (COL) 2014 Junior World Champion and Pan American Junior Champion – 2012 Youth World Champion and his younger brother MOSQUERA LOSANO Jose David (COL) 2015 Youth World Champion in this painful

In Memoriam Gamil Hanna

Egyptian and international weightlifting had to suffer a great loss on 17th May 2015. The world’s Weightlifting Community is saddened to learn about the passing away of Gamil Hanna at the age of 80 years. Gamil Hanna was an engaging individual who truly deserved both names: “Father of Egyptian Weightlifting” and “Father of African Weightlifting”. Together with his brother, Samir, who left us in 2006, both of them former outstanding weightlifters, they built up and developed the sport in their country and became iconic figures through several decades of constant and devoted activity and unfailing efforts. Having served in the Egyptian Armed Forces, Gamil Hanna continued to serve his country, Egypt as well as his Continent, Africa in the field of weightlifting. He did so with high discipline, extreme diligence and great passion. He organised the sport and introduced many young people to weightlifting. He was an international official with great experience attending 8 Olympic Games, over 50 World Championships, innumerable African, Mediterranean and Arabic Championships – many of which he initiated and organised himself. Together with the IWF President, he founded the Weightlifting Federation of Africa in 1978 and was its President from 1986 to 2009. He was also founding member and General Secretary of the Arabic Weightlifting Federation. Gamil Hanna carried important international positions: Member of the IWF Scientific and Research Committee from 1981 to 1988 and a co-opted Member of the IWF Executive Board from 1986 to 2009. His great services were honoured by the IWF Order in Gold in 2000 and several Egyptian awards and distinctions. However, he will not only be remembered as a great coach, administrator or official. Gamil Hanna was a true and loyal friend, a brotherly and fatherly figure to many, someone who treated the world with great wisdom and a warm personality. His death leaves a great void and he will live on forever in our

Kathmandu Nepal cancels the organization of the Asian Championships

The Nepalese capital Kathmandu was preparing to host the 26th Women's and 45th Men's Asian Championships, for the first time from July 22 to 30, but the country has been struck by two devastating earthquakes in the space of three weeks. After the two huge earthquakes of 25th and 29th April, the Nepal Weightlifting Federation Board officially decided to cancel the organization of the 26th Women's and 45th Men's Asian Championships. The whole nation as well as the Federation being in grief after these tragic events, the IWF assures the Nepal Weightlifting Federation about its help and support for the upcoming

Iranian Weightlifting Federation Elections

Mr. Ali Moradi, former AWF General Secretary has been elected as President of the Iranian Weightlifting Federation. High ranking officials such as Dr.Mahmoud Goudarzi , Sports & Youth Minister , Sport Vice-Minister and First Vice-President of the IRI NOC were present at the Elections. Congratulations to all elected

Second Technical Visit in the lead up to the 2015 IWF World Championships

The second and last main Qualification Event for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be the 2015 IWF World Championships hosted by Houston, USA from 20-28 November. IWF delegates Attila Adamfi, Director General, Aniko Nemeth-Mora, Director of International Relations and Lilla Rozgonyi, Director, Communication and Marketing were welcomed for the second Technical Visit by Janis Schmees Burke, Houston Sport Authority CEO, Michael Massik, USAWL CEO as well as the Organizing Committee Team set up for the event. The participants will be happy to find that all functional areas will be practically under one roof with interconnecting venues, including accommodation. The venue to host the event George R. Brown Convention Center is directly connected to the main hotel the Hilton Amercias via two indoor skywalks. Embassy Suites, being just on the opposite side of the road will also be used for delegations and officials. The delegation had several inclusive meetings with the representatives of the key functional areas such as accommodation, accreditation, competition venue, media operations, transport, protocol, presentation, etc. Representing Lagardere Unlimited Media, Dennis Spencer, Executive Vice President and Adam Schneider, Program Manager were present to discuss details related to TV broadcasting. The IWF delegation was content to note that the Organizing Committee is devoted and committed not only to delivering the event at highest level but also to contributing to the promotion of weightlifting in the United States. Check out the Timetable of the 2015 IWF World Championships through the

ONOC General Assembly

The ONOC General Assembly was held in Suva with the participation of IOC President Thomas Bach. Besides the 17 NOC countries and 5 Associate countries attending, Marcus Stephen Nauru NOC President and OWF President and Paul Coffa OWF General Secretary also participated in the event. Over 200 delegates were present from the different regional sports federations. Weightlifting is one of the two tiered sports of ONOC together with rugby. At the General Assembly, the IOC President referred to the success of the weightlifters in Glasgow from the Pacific region with a special mention to Kiribati and David Katoatau. The President of the Republic of Fiji, in his opening speech, praised the work of weightlifting in the Pacific region, naming David Katoatau from Kiribati, the two gold medallist from PNG Dika Toua and Steven Kari, the silver medal from Nauru with Itte Detenamo, the two silver and one bronze medal from Samoa – Ele Opeloge, Mary Opeloge and Nevo Ioanne, and of course he was proud to announce Apolonia Vaivai from Fiji winning bronze. IOC Rio Scholarships were offered to the lifters from the pacific islands. Souce: Paul Coffa, OWF General