News

2014 Malaysia Sport Leadership Award presented to MWF President

Malaysian Weightlifting Federation President Dato Ong Poh Eng was awarded the Malaysian Highest Award. The 2014 Malaysia Sport Leadership Award was presented by HRH the King of Malaysia on the 28 April 2015 at the Grand Dosset Hotel, Subang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Budapest University of Physical Education launching its 2015 International Course

The University of Physical Education of Hungary (TF) is accepting applications for its International Coaching Course in Weightlifting, 14 September to4 December 2015. The ICC of the Budapest institution is a long-established course which has been recognised and supported by the IOC Olympic

Interview with HUANG Ting 2015 Youth World Champion

A Talent and Training Program was launched by the Chinese Weightlifting Association and Chinese Weightlifting Teams last summer where 12 athletes and 4 coaches were selected to participate. SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile co., ltd. (SGMW, Wuling & Baojun) long term-partner of Chinese Weightlifting Association and Chinese Weightlifting Teams, gave support to this great initiative promoting Youth and Junior athletes participation in weightlifting. Athletes aged from 8 to 17 participated in a Weightlifting Summer and Training Camp. Among them, HUANG Ting (CHN) who participated in her first International Competition on the occasion of the 2015 IWF Youth World Championships Lima, PER. Winning the Youth World Champion title in the Women’s 63kg bodyweight category, she answered some questions: How was your experience and what did you learned from the program? It was an incredible experience and I learned a lot. Through this Talent Program, I became more mature than before. A real plus was also the fact that immediately after, I had the opportunity to go to train with the National Team. I trained 3 months in the National Team, and that gave me an aim for the future. Before the Program, I had no precise idea about what will happen, but it made my future dream clear. Were you expecting the Medals? Two weeks ago I attended a Qualification event for the 1st Youth and Junior National Games and only ranked 11th with a big difference compared to the winner. I kind of lost confidence, but the Sport Authorities and Team convinced me about the fact that I was still young, had talent and still a lot of time to improve! This is the first time I participate in World Championships. I did not think much about the competition or the result, I hoped to do my best, and actually this is what happened. The result achieved here is my Personal Best! That makes me happy. How was the experience with the National Team? During the 3 months period with the National Team, I found life boring. Girls my age need entertainment, but I kept focus, concentrated on training and tried to discipline myself. The next 5-12 month leading up to the Youth and Junior National Games will be about practicing and trying to get better results in order not to disappoint my coach! It is important for me to truly incorporate everything I learn in the National Team. I hope I will be able to officially integrate the National Team as member. The senior athletes helped you out when needed? All of them helped a lot and gave me useful advices. The best ones were related to my technique – how to correct my moves. I believe I still have some week points where I can improve, and usually after the training we have some more time to practice the technical specificities of my Clean and Jerk. All the National Team athletes and Coaches are very helpful and gave a lot of guidance. Who is your favorite lifter? LIAO Hui!!! I wish that one day I can become such a model for the youth as well as a well-known star just like him. He is successful and such a bright talent. What do your parents think about what you do? They are very supportive, even though they don’t know much about the sport. My mother told me “If this is what you want and what you like doing, we will support you always”. What do you do in your free time? I practice calligraphy! I have a special notebook for that purpose. Any plans for the future? I wouldn’t think too much about it. It is better to keep the dream deep in my heart and follow step by step. But of course I would love to step on the podium of the Olympic Games one

Award Ceremony for the World’s Best Lifters in 2014: KASHIRINA and ILYIN

The Lifter of the Year 2014 Awards were presented to Tatyana Kashirina and Ilyin Ilya at a Ceremony held in Astana, Kazakhstan. Early this year, the world's weightlifting-loving public was invited to vote online - on the IWF's website - whom they consider as the absolute best weightlifting athletes in 2014. The most votes were received among the women by Russian Tatiana Kashirina, and among the men by Kazakhstan's Ilya Ilyin. The prestigious ceremony taking place at the National Museum of Kazakhstan was attended by IWF President Dr. Tamas Ajan, 1st Vice President Nicu Vlad, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Berdibek Saparbayev, Minister of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan Arystanbek Muhamediuly, Chairman of the Combat and Strength Sports Confederation of the Republic of Kazakhstan Timur Kulibayev, President of the Weightlifting Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan Zhanat Tussupbekov, Russian Weightlifting Federation President Sergey Syrtsov and other dignitaries. World Weightlifting Magazine Editor-In-Chief Kornel Jancso, and Senior Editor, Aniko Nemeth-Mora gave the trophies to Kashiina and Ilyin, while the public had the chance to relive the most amazing lifts of the incredible athletes in a short video from the 2014 IWF World Championships Almaty. Ilyin Ilya (KAZ) talking about his preparation for Rio 2016: There is 1,5 year left before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and there are challengers and contestants who can go up with their results by then. David Bedzanyan and Ruslan Nurudinov are definitely to be followed closely. I must be very serious with my training before Rio – I know that my results from Almaty won’t be enough. When talking about this year’s competitions, Tatyana Kashirina (RUS) said: I will participate in the 2015 IWF World Championships Houston and definitely try not to miss this important meet because it give me more confidence in the lead up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Additional information regarding the Award Since 1982, World Weightlifting, the official magazine of the IWF (International Weightlifting Federation) has organised worldwide elections of the previous year's best lifters. At the beginning, the voting was only for the men; the first woman winner was elected in 1991. The Lifter of the Year election was initiated by the late Jenő Boskovics (Hungarian), the founding Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. After his death in 2010, World Weightlifting created a Challenge Trophy in Memoriam Jenő Boskovics. The same Trophy – one for Men, one for Women – has been awarded annually ever since to the Best Male and Best Female Weightlifter of the World. Every year, the new names are engraved on the Trophies. In the year of the 2012 Olympic Games the winners came from the London Champions: Zulfiya Chinshanlo of Kazakhstan and Behdad Salimikordasiabi of Iran. Likewise in 2013, the World Championships in Wroclaw made the biggest influence on the voters, when they elected Kashirina and her compatriot Russian Ruslan Albegov. In 2014 once again the year's peak event, the Almaty World Championships shaped most voters' opinions. Repeater in 2014, Tatiana Kashirina performed splendidly throughout the year, however, it was at Almaty2014 when she achieved her extraordinary performance winning her (+75kg) category with incredible new world records: five altogether. Counting with good right as the Strongest Woman of the World, the Russian lady triumphed with the biggest difference in total among all the categories; marking an historic 193kg clean and jerk world record and 348kg overall. A very similar parade was staged by the male Trophy winner, Ilya Ilyin of Kazakhstan. Two-times Olympic and four-times champion llyin amazed his audience and the world in the 105kg category with a stupendous 242kg clean and jerk world record, taking also the total gold medal. The highest number of votes behind Kashirina was given to triple world champion Zulfiya Chinshanlo, one of the home favourites, who set a new world record in the 53kg clean and jerk. There was only a very narrow difference in the number of ballots cast for the third place; finally, the position was won by Chinese Deng Wei, who thus beat her two country-women, Deng Mengrong and Tan Yajun. Among the men,Ilyin’s victory could not be questioned, while in second place we find China’s Olympic and world champion, Almaty2014’s 69kg hero Liao Hui. Liao Hui set world records in both snatch and total. There was a big fight for the third best position in the Lifter of the Year voting: finally out of the World Championship protagonists Russian Ruslan Albegov emerged as the winner. Bronze medallist at the London Olympic Games, Lifter of the Year in 2013, Albegov collected votes thanks to his success in the +105kg category at Almaty2014, with which he continues to count as the Strongest Man of the World. Many voters put their votes also for Iranian Kianoush Rostami, Kazakhstan’s Zhassulan Kydyrbayev and Vladimir Sedov, Uzbek Ruslan Nurudinov, the junior world record-man Thach Kim Tuan of Vietnam and both North-Korean Olympic and world champions, OmYun Chol and Kim Un

IOC President visits NOC of Kosovo

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach visited the National Olympic Committee of Kosovo for talks on Olympic Agenda 2020, the role of sport in society, and the recent recognition by the IOC of the Kosovo NOC. Kosovo was granted full IOC recognition at the 127th IOC Session in Monaco in December 2014. In Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, the IOC President held talks with President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, the Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, as well as Kosovo NOC President Besim Hasani. Reminding them that the NOC of Kosovo was the first to receive recognition since he became President, Bach said: “We want our youngest child to grow quickly. We want to be very proud of the youngest member of our family.” He told them that if they prepared their athletes well for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year they would become great role models for the whole country. During his stay, IOC President Thomas Bach and the Deputy Director General for Relations with the Olympic Movement Mr. Pere Miro visited the weightlifting hall in Kosovo. They were happy to acknowledge the substantial support given by the IWF for the Kosovo Weightlifting Federation aiming the development of the sport in the country. Source: Astrit Hasani, Kosovo Weightlifting Federation General Secretary Source:

European Championships running in Georgia

With 232 competitors from 38 European countries participating, the 2015 edition of the European Championships is underway in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. The event was kicked off on 11th April and competitions will run through 18th April. Georgian Weightlifting Federation President Kakhi Kakhiashvilis, 3-times Olympic Champion welcomed the Continent's weightlifters and countries. At the Congress of the European Weightlifting Federation, held in conjunction with the Championships, IWF President and EWF Honorary President Dr Tamás Aján received the EWF's recognition from EWF President Dr Antonio Urso and General Secretary Dr Hasan Akkus. For Start List and Results go to EWF homepage