The Nepal Weightlifting Association is all set to host the Youth and Junior Asian Weightlifting Championships from July 23-29. The event is going to be the biggest event in Asia in terms of participation, according to Nepal Weightlifting Association (NWA).
Parth Sarathi Sen Gupta, the general secretary of NWA said at a press conference on Thursday that the championships will be attended by 307 weightlifters from 34 different countries, a record participation in Asia at such kind of event. International Weightlifting Federation President Tamas Azan, and Mohamed Jalood, also the general secretary of Asian Weightlifting Federation attended the press conference as well.
Though the event was first scheduled to be from July 21 to 29, some changes have been made and now has been announced that the competitions will officially start from July 23 at the Army Physical Training and Sports Complex in Lalitpur. The biggest event in Asia will see 197 male and 110 female lifters from 34 countries. Mr. Gupta also informed that delegates from 37 countries will visit Nepal and conduct Asian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) general assembly on the sidelines of the event.
The weightlifters will compete for a total of 96 gold medals – 48 each in men’s and women’s categories. The championships feature three categories—19th Youth, 24th Women’s and 31st Junior. And all of the categories will have eight weight divisions.
IWF President Tamas Azan hailed Nepal as a “Great Federation’ adding—“It is the largest participation at the Asian level event and IWF is always ready to support this country.” According to Gupta, NWA received weight-lifting kits worth NPR. 20 million from 2015 till date. The weightlifting equipment worth $66000 were received in 2015 while Nepal was preparing to host Asian Senior Men’s and Women’s Championships in July that year. However, the event was canceled due to the massive earthquake of April 25, 2015.
Though Nepal does not have high hopes in the event, they are eyeing to set new national and junior record in the game. Nepal has been preparing for this event since March 10. “Not only junior record will be broken in the tournament, but even new national records will be set,” said Sanjay Maharjan, one of the three coaches who’ve been training the Nepali team.
Reference: Kathmandu Post, The Himalayan Times