The annual Weightlifting Club Competition was underway this past weekend and saw the rising stars of Maltese weightlifting push the barriers of their maximum lifts. This meet has become a yearly lift off tradition between local weightlifting clubs, where athletes try to post their best total in hopes of accumulating enough points to finish on the top.
Reigning champions’ Alpha weightlifting had no competition this year, winning the title by more than 1,500 points. Despite the unbeatable club having a lot less athletes than usual competing, due to light injuries athletes and others that have been peaking for international meets, the 10 competing athletes still managed to sweep the podium and acquire personal best lifts and national records alike. University weightlifting club, Degree + finished in 2nd place followed by Crossfit356.
Malta’s up and rising stars kicked off the competition on Sunday morning with 11 year old Kim Camilleri Lagana giving an incredible performance with a 25kg snatch and 30kg clean and jerk weighing in at 29.2kg. Kim is one of many young girls and boys forming part of the Alpha Weightlifting cadets team and is proving to be one to watch out for in the future.
In the women’s session, youth athlete Shelby Mangion Vassallo representing Alpha weightlifting had a great battle with Degree + athlete Rebecca Scerri. Shelby (-71kg) finishied with a 62kg snatch and 76kg clean and jerk accumulating a total of 173.25 points while Scerri finished with a 56kg snatch, 68kg clean and jerk and a total of 171.60 points.
Alpha’s youth athlete Tristan Zammit (102+) had an incredible meet. The strong 16 year old finished with a 92kg and 108kg clean and jerk, both being personal bests lifts and resulting in 215 points. Degree + athlete Keith Azzopardi (-81kg) also finsihed with personal bests after he managed a 90kg snatch along with his 117kg clean and jerk giving a total of 255.32 to add up to his Club’s total.
The best results from the senior men however came from veteran athletes Rodmar Pulis (-81kg, Alpha WL) and Kyle Micallef (-89kg, Crossfit 356). Rodmar started off slow with a 95kg snatch compared to the 110kg snatch attempt by Micallef. however the clean and jerks saw a closer battle with Kyle Micallef finishing with 130kg after his 133kg 3rd attempt was ruled a no lift by the referees. Rodmar managed to secure 128kg, 133kg and 135kg with the last 2 attempts all being national record lifts. Pulis accumulated 285.05 points to be beaten by Kyle’s 286 points. Nonetheless, Alpha weightliftings were no match for the rest of the field when all the teams efforts were added.
The Club competition was an important meet for the athletes who are trying to qualifier for the upcoming Mediterranean Cup Championships set to take place in San Marino this October.
Starting Monday 29th July, the Maltese weightlifting national team will be joined by internationally renowned coach Tamas Feher for a 3 week training camp. Yazmin Zammit Stevens, who did not compete in the Club competition due to a recent ankle injury, will now be preparing with Tamas Feher for the next 3 weeks followed by another 1 month in Romania leading up to the very important World Championships. Youth athlete Tenishia Thornton, also did not compete at the Club Competition. Thornton had 2 major championships in the last month on an international platform and decided to sit out of this meet to recover fully for the upcoming goal. She will also be preparing with Tamas Feher leading up to the European youth championships that will take place later this year.
Other national team athletes will be working with the London Olympic Games coach hoping to secure their place on the Mediterranean Cup team in the next qualifying meet,