News
SEVEN GB athletes are preparing to travel to the European Powerlifting Championships in Russia later this month.
Five athletes will enter the main competition, while another two will compete in the open section of the event at Alexin from May 22-28.
Double Paralympian Ali Jawad (pictured) will compete in the 59kg class, while fellow London 2012 veteran Natalie Blake lifts in the 55kg class.
Londoner Paul Efayena competes in the 107kg class, while Sgt Micky Yule lifts in the 80kg class and Adam Alderman will compete in the 49kg class. The athletes in the main competition will have coaches Neil Crosbie, Arun Singh and Ric Partridge with them, while physiotherapist Suzanne Basnett will be there too.
In the open event Chris Rattenbury and Daniel Steward will lift in 97kg and 72kg categories respectively, with Gideon Griffiths coaching them and Tom Whittaker overseeing the whole GB team in Russia.
The event is being screened live on the internet. For more details click here - http://www.paralympic.org/news/ipc-live-stream-powerlifting-euros
SEVEN GB athletes are preparing to travel to the European Powerlifting Championships in Russia later this month.
Five athletes will enter the main competition, while another two will compete in the open section of the event at Alexin from May 22-28.
Double Paralympian Ali Jawad (pictured) will compete in the 59kg class, while fellow London 2012 veteran Natalie Blake lifts in the 55kg class.
Londoner Paul Efayena competes in the 107kg class, while Sgt Micky Yule lifts in the 80kg class and Adam Alderman will compete in the 49kg class. The athletes in the main competition will have coaches Neil Crosbie, Arun Singh and Ric Partridge with them, while physiotherapist Suzanne Basnett will be there too.
In the open event Chris Rattenbury and Daniel Steward will lift in 97kg and 72kg categories respectively, with Gideon Griffiths coaching them and Tom Whittaker overseeing the whole GB team in Russia.
The event is being screened live on the internet. For more details click here - http://www.paralympic.org/news/ipc-live-stream-powerlifting-euros
Four promising young weightlifters have been selected to represent Great Britain at the European Youth Championships in Lithuania later this year.
The quartet will attend the competition in Klaipeda from September 1-8, and have been selected after showing real talent and potential to perform on the international stage.
The GB team for the European Youth Championships is:
Ryan Baugh (69kg), a 15-year-old from Ivybridge in Devon, coached by Michaela Breeze
Louis Hampton-Jones (56kg), 16 and from Northolt, coached by Kazem Panjavi
Rebekah Tiler (63kg), 14 and from Denholme in Yorkshire, coached by Eddie Halstead
Mercy Brown (69kg+), 16 and from London, coached by George Manners and Keith Morgan
“These four youngsters have all earned their place in the team by demonstrating real ability,” said British Weight Lifting’s Performance Director Tommy Yule.
“We have an increased focus to support the development of talented athletes across the country so it is great to be able to select these four athletes and for them to have this opportunity to perform to their best and learn from the experience of competing against some of the world’s best weightlifters.”
Young Welsh weightlifter Darius Jokarzadeh led the way for Great Britain at the World Junior Championships in Peru, securing a bronze medal in the clean and jerk and breaking several British and Commonwealth records in the process.
But Jokarzadeh was not only the only GB athlete to enjoy success at the event in Lima, with both Sonny Webster and Jaswant Shergill posting personal best performances.
Jokarzadeh, 19, finished fourth overall across both disciplines in the 105kg+ category. After a snatch of 170kg, he boosted his total with a superb clean and jerk of 215kg – a new British senior record - while his snatch and clean and jerk were both British junior records and Under-23 records, and the clean and jerk and total were Commonwealth junior records.
He lifted the same total as the athlete who took third place, but was placed fourth on bodyweight.
“It was a tremendous performance from Darius. To put it into perspective it was 18 years ago that a British male last won a medal at a World Junior Championships,” said British Weight Lifting Performance Director Tommy Yule, referring to Leon Griffin, who still holds the British clean and jerk record in the 85kg class.
“To break the British senior record that has stood for over 10 years is a great achievement for a 19-year-old. I don't think he was happy after the snatch so to see him deal with pressure, put that disappointment to one side and perform like he did in the clean and jerk is a credit to him and demonstrates that he has the potential to continue to achieve his goals.”
“On the day the snatch warm up went great and the first lift felt like nothing,” explained Jokarzadeh. “But on my second attempt my arm hyperextended badly which resulted in the second and third snatch being lost.
“After the unexpected failures of the snatch I was overcome with anger and came close to pulling out with my elbow injury. But after the hours I put in for the competition, I had to go for a medal.
“The clean and jerk warm up was very sharp from not wanting to put too much pressure on my elbow, so after four lifts I was ready to go out. The first couple of attempts flew and I knew I had a big attempt in the making.
“I then had around five tense minutes of waiting before I knew what I needed to do for a medal. Stepping on to the platform I knew I had it in me to do it from the hundreds of hours of training, and to everyone's surprise I got the medal.
“It's great to know that I’m now competing with the top guys, but I know that I am nowhere near my potential and have a lot more to do and give before I can look back and say I did good.”
Earlier in the competition Bristol-based Sonny Webster recorded new personal bests in the snatch (139kg), clean and jerk (171kg) and total (310kg) to place 12th in the 94kg category.
And in the 62kg class, Jaswant Shergill finished 15th, having set a new personal best in the snatch of 105kg and followed up with a clean and jerk of 125kg.
The coaches who helped the athletes to success were BWL Head Coach Tamas Feher and Sam Hayer.
BRITISH Weight Lifting is delighted to announce the appointment of Ashley Metcalfe as their new Chief Executive Officer.
The 49-year-old Yorkshireman enjoyed a successful career as a professional cricketer, playing for his home county for 15 years as well as a brief spell at Nottinghamshire and also in South Africa.
Following his playing days, Metcalfe embarked on a successful business career which has seen him head up significant companies, specialising in marketing and events.
For six years he also sat on the Sport England Yorkshire board in Leeds, which was responsible for providing strategic leadership for sport, increasing participation and sporting success.
“I am delighted to be joining British Weight Lifting and see this as a very exciting and challenging opportunity to be involved in a fast developing, ambitious organisation, which offers athletes of all ages the opportunity to showcase their skills locally, nationally and on a world stage,” said Metcalfe.
“There has been considerable work undertaken over the past few years to stabilise the organisation and with new funding in place, there is great potential to drive British Weight Lifting forward and establish itself as a sustainable, respected and successful National Governing Body of sport.”
Following his retirement from a successful career as a professional sportsman, Metcalfe was responsible for launching the commercial department at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, and played a significant role for a decade in maximising Sharp Electronics’ sponsorship of Manchester United Football Club. He also played an important role in John Smiths’ sponsorship of Great Britain Rugby League.
His other experience includes international events for Volkswagen and Jaguar, national conferencing for BT and KPMG and innovative media campaigns and incentive international events for Dunlop Slazenger, Maxfli. Reebok and Ashworth.
“We need to build on recent competition successes to deliver competitive weightlifting and powerlifting teams for Rio and beyond as well as growing the sport across the UK,” continued Metcalfe.
“I am particularly looking forward to working alongside Peter Rowley, the new Chairman, the Board and the senior management team, as well as our key supporters, stakeholders, clubs and members to ensure we can provide a successful environment for athletes and coaches to reach their true potential at all levels.”
The appointment of Ashley Metcalfe as CEO comes after other recent appointments of Peter Rowley as BWL Chair, and Tommy Yule as Performance Director.
Also taking on key new roles will be Steve Cannon as Technical Director, Tom Whittaker as Paralympic Performance Manager, Sam Jamieson as National Development Manager and Dan Wagner as Talent Pathway Officer.
Sue Ward will continue as Office Manager, as well as Tamas Feher as weightlifting Head Coach.
BWL are delighted to have such a strong team to take the sport forward at what is such an exciting time for sport in the UK. Future editions of the newsletter will carry more information about the key new members of staff in particular.
The organisation would like to pass on its thanks to Phil Young who took on the role of interim Chair when David Pendleton left, and has now handed over to Peter Rowley who commented: “This has been an eventful first month as chairman of British Weight Lifting. I’m very grateful to Phil Young and other board members for keeping things moving pending my appointment and particularly pleased that Ashley is joining us.
“His unique combination of long service as a high performance athlete coupled with his commercial and business experience makes him uniquely qualified to lead BWL through an exciting time for the sport.”
Double Paralympic powerlifting ace Ali Jawad was just one of the 2012 stars on show at Paralympics GB’s SportsFest event in Sheffield last month.
The event aimed to give an opportunity for disabled people to try out different disability sports and explore how they can get involved.
Dozens of Paralympic athletes were at the event to pass on their knowledge and encourage the next generation, and plenty of people tried their hand at powerlifting throughout the weekend at the English Institute of Sport.
The powerlifting set-up included live bar tracking, which helped demonstrate the important of technique to the sport, with participants able to see a replay of their lift and learn how to improve.
* Jawad is pictured teaching one young hopeful the finer points of powerlifting.
British Weight Lifting believes that all young people involved in weightlifting and disability powerlifting have a basic right to be protected so that they can enjoy the sport free from all forms of abuse and mistreatment.
It therefore seeks to help protect and promote the welfare of all young people by having in place clear policies and guidance for its affiliated clubs and associations and all others involved in the sport.
Click here to see a full overview and breakdown of the BWL Safeguarding Policy - http://www.britishweightlifting.org/child-protection/overview
London weightlifting coach Kazem Panjavi was honoured for his work in promoting the sport across the capital when he was named in the top three of the Pro Active London Coach of the Year Awards this month.
Originally from Iran, Panjavi has introduced thousands of children to weightlifting, and created the Stars for the Future weightlifting club which has quickly grown from three weightlifters to more than 65.
His club has created 35 British age group champions, and Panjavi is now also the England national team coach.
He attended the glittering awards ceremony at the Kia Oval Cricket Ground, where he was honoured as one of the top three in a list of more than 100 people nominated for the award.
Panjavi is a former Iranian national team weightlifter who competed at the 1992 Olympics, and he was also in the British nation team from 2000-2005 following his move to this country.
He has helped build up five weightlifting clubs in different boroughs of London, and there are regular inter-club competitions which are well attended. The best athletes from each club are invited to training sessions at the Central Excellence Centre in Perivale Athletics Track.
He has sent athletes to competitions across England, Scotland and Wales, and last year a 19-strong team went to Austria to compete in the Fulda International competition where they finished second out of 19 teams from eight different countries with four golds, four silvers and five bronze medals.
Panjavi has forged strong links across the city with Ealing Active, Hounslow Sport Fusions, Harrow and Hillingdon Sport Development, Richmond, Hammersmith and Fulham, St Marys and Queen Marys University and West London Pro-active.
For two years he worked with several boroughs towards the London 2012 Youth Games, where he built strong teams and saw his athletes achieve silver (Hounslow), bronze (Hillingdon) and fourth place (Ealing and Harrow).
THE 2013 British Masters Championship in Bristol saw some great lifting, with worthy champions crowned, new personal bests set and national records broken at the two-day event at the Empire Club in Bristol. Bill Barton reports for BWL News.
With a good sized entry of 81 lifters it was necessary to designate two days for this event, and even though the adverse weather conditions resulted in only 65 competing I am sure that everyone will agree that the two days allocated were worthwhile.
This report is more of a championship overview because even with 65 entries it is not possible to give a lift by lift account and mention every competitor by name. Nevertheless it must be said that everyone cooperated fully with the organisation to ensure it was a smooth running championship and one that everyone seemed to enjoy.
One lifter, Derek Stewart, was aged 82, and another nine competed in the M75 (75-79) age category. Quite remarkable because it was the biggest group and none of the other nine age groups had as many competitors.
Sixteen women competed in the championship in two sessions of 8 lifters and again quite remarkable with three women making over 200 SMM Points which is the equivalent of the men scoring 400 points.
Dyana Altinor was the championship best woman lifter with 218.223 SMM Points.
Jennifer Maysmor-Gee made 210.724 and Beverley Pattison made 204.444.
Dyana, Beverley, and Gwendolyn Leick all made new British Masters records in their respective age and body weight categories.
Both womens' sessions were a pleasure to watch with some excellent lifting throughout and an overall credit to the championship.
The best lifter in the men was Dave Dargue setting a new British Masters snatch record at 70 years of age, and narrowly failing to make a new jerk record and take the record set by the late Tony Flood in the 1996 European Masters Championship.
Most of the "no shows" were on the second day and everyone cooperated fully to merge sessions 7 and 8 into one session and also sessions 9 and 10 into one session making three sessions instead of five on the second day and allowing everyone to make an earlier start home.
Special thanks to all the officials who volunteered their services and maintained a high standard of refereeing throughout. An extra special thank you to Wendy and Andy Sutor (pictured in action) for preparing and providing a venue that many commented on as "outstanding" and for providing continuous refreshment for the entire two days.
Members of the Empire club did some great work as loaders, one or two even competed as well as loading, and also pleasing to see two of UK's best weightlifters Sonny Webster and Bradley Burrowes loading for the Masters.
I must mention also that Andy set a new jerk record on top of all his hard work and was again working hard at the end of the championship to return the Empire Club to normal.
In the first of a series of regular features, UK Anti-Doping asks why their work is so important?
What is the importance of anti-doping in weightlifting? All athletes, coaches, medics, parents and club staff should understand their role in keeping sport clean. Anti-doping responsibilities are part of everyday life for athletes and support staff and whatever level you are competing at, you should want weightlifting to be clean; it’s good for the sport and good for its reputation.
Two recent doping cases have brought weightlifting under the spotlight for the wrong reasons, sending negative messages to young athletes and future champions.
UK Anti-Doping is here to protect sport and its athletes to compete in clean sport. Everyone should be proud to be part of a sport that promotes the values of fair play, something that the BWLA passionately believe in.
The 100 Per Cent ME programme supports, informs and educates athletes throughout their careers by providing anti-doping advice and guidance. It is your guide to ensure you can ‘be clean and stay clean’. UK Anti-Doping is working with the BWLA to provide weight lifters with the tools they need to compete within the anti-doping rules of sport.
However the responsibility does not just rest with athletes. Everyone has a role to play in clean sport.
The Report Doping in Sport hotline provides anyone with suspicions of doping with the opportunity to provide information anonymously, at any time of day or night. If you have concerns that someone might be doping, no matter how small, it is in your interest to tell us. Remember, when drug cheats compete, your medal chances suffer. You can submit information to Report Doping in Sport online or by calling 08000 32 23 32.
In the UK we are leading the way in the prevention of doping and we want sports fans to be proud that the performances they see are clean and fairly won. Support your support, play your part and keep weightlifting clean.
