Mauritius International Open Weightlifting Championships 2022 |14 January 2022
Four lifters get ready to compete
Four Seychellois weightlifters are training to take part in the Mauritius International Open Weightlifting Championships 2022 which will also serve as a qualification event for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
The four lifters are Rick Confiance, Ruby Malvina, Romantha Larue and Clementina Agricole.
The Mauritius International Open Weightlifting Championships to be held from February 20 - 27, is the final qualification event for Africa and athletes who wish to compete in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games have to earn qualification following a revision of the participation criteria.
The weight categories are as follows: men: 55kg, 61kg, 67kg, 73kg, 81kg, 96kg, 109kg, and +109kg, and women: 49kg, 55kg, 59kg, 64kg, 71kg, 76kg, 87kg, and +87kg.
Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded in each bodyweight category for both men and women in the total only.
Seychelles Weightlifting Association chairman Robert Rose, who will be officiating in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, told Sports NATION that it is important for local athletes to train hard and give a good account of themselves in Mauritius as many African lifters will be there competing for places at the Commonwealth Games.
There are four other competitions weightlifters hoping to qualify for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham can compete in. They will take place in Derby, England during the last week of January, and in Auckland (New Zealand), Montreal (Canada) and Singapore on February 26 and 27.
The five competitions ‒ one in each continental federation ‒ have been added to the schedule because of difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic and are open to any Commonwealth Games hopefuls regardless of where they live or which nation or territory they represent.
In an article published on the Inside the Games website, Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation general secretary Paul Coffa said “during this pandemic period we are trying to help as many countries and lifters as possible. Some lifters are training outside of their own regions so it is only fair during this time to give them every opportunity.”
It is worth noting that many athletes were unable to compete in last year’s Commonwealth Championships, which were moved from Nauru to Singapore because of the pandemic and eventually took place in a non-Commonwealth nation for the first time, running concurrently with the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships this month in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
Teams from Oceania and Africa were unable to travel to Uzbekistan, which is why the extra events have been added and opened up to all.
Since the last qualification competition will end on February 27, its means the ranking period has to be extended from its original end date of February 14, 2022.
The top eight in the rankings join the outright winners of the Commonwealth Championships, England's host nation selections, and bipartite invitations in fields of 11 and 12 for the 16 weight categories.
The total athlete quota of 180 places is exactly 50 per cent more than the number allocated to weightlifting for Paris 2024 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The weightlifting competition will run from July 30 to August 3 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Gerard Govinden