THE cream of Britain’s powerlifters travel to Dubai this week to compete in one of the last 2012 Paralympic qualifying events, the 4th Fazaa IPC International Tournament.
The event from February 21-27 has attracted a world-class list of competitors, with more than 260 athletes from all the major powerlifting nations attending in a bid to break into the Paralympic qualifying spots.
The top ten men and top six women in the IPC world rankings in each category are in line for selection for the Games this summer, and several British athletes are looking good to make it.
Performing in Dubai will be Colchester’s Zoe Newson, who is currently ranked fifth in the world, and Natalie Blake from Newark, who is sixth in the rankings and looking to improve on that position.
Jason Irving, the Manchester-born athlete who lives in Scunthorpe, will be aiming to qualify following a strong performance in Malaysia recently, while Anthony Peddle from Matlock in Derbyshire will be aiming to improve on his current IPC ranking of tenth.
Relative newcomers to the squad, Londoner Paul Efaneya and Micky Yule from Southsea in Hampshire, will both be aiming to perform well and challenge for a late place, while Tottenham’s Ali Jawad (pictured) will be looking to make it to his second Paralympics following a strong performance in Beijing.
Jawad has been performing well in training, and as long as his illness problems can stabilise he could well make it to London, while Adam Alderman from Sible Hedingham in Essex will also compete in Dubai.
