Weightlifting - Clementina Agricole, African senior champ for first time |17 July 2017

Clementina Agricole has claimed her first African Senior Weightlifting Championship title after winning three gold medals in the 63kg weight category on Friday in Mauritius.

Challenged by two Tunisians, an Algerian and a Malagasy inside the National Weightlifting Centre in Vacoas, two-time former Sportswoman of the Year Agricole lifted 86kg in snatch, and 107kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 193kg to win three gold medals.

She beat three-time silver medallist Ghofran Belhir of Tunisia by 1kg in both events. Belhir finished with 85kg in snatch, 106kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 191kg.

In third place for the three bronze medals was another Tunisian, Yosra Abidi, and she got 76kg in snatch, 105kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 181kg.

Winner of the women’s senior 53kg category Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships gold medal – the country’s first ever – in Penang, Malaysia, in October 2009 after finishing with an Olympic total of 177kg (77kg in snatch and 100kg in clean & jerk), Agricole returned to competition in 2013 after being absent for just over two years, recovering from a brain tumour.

Last year, Agricole claimed three bronze medals in Yaoundé, Cameroon after lifting 77kg in snatch and 101kg in clean & jerk for a total lift of 178kg in the 58kg category contested by 10 lifters.

Seychelles has also won three bronze medals in Mauritius through Brenda Lozaique in the 75kg weight division contested by three lifters and she finished with 55kg in snatch, 70kg in clean & jerk and Olympic total of 125kg.

Algerian Maghnia Hammadi won the three gold medals with 74kg in snatch, 95kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 169kg, while Mauritian Alison Sunee picked up the three silver medals with 71kg in snatch, 80kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 151kg.

Meanwhile in the men’s category on Saturday night, Angelo Servina and Hansel Bristol were both ranked sixth in their respective weight categories.

Competing in the 85kg weight class, Servina lifted 95kg in snatch and 125kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 220kg, while Bristol got 90kg in snatch and 120k in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 210kg in the 94kg weight division.

G. G.