Last chance for powerlifters to rank for Rio 2016

Powerlifters will take their final chance to improve their position in the qualification rankings for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games from Wednesday (24 February), at the IPC Powerlifting World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

All the action between 24-27 February from the Grand Seasons Hotel will be shown live at: www.ipc-powerlifting.org.

A full competition schedule is available at the IPC Powerlifting website.

After the recent World Cup in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (15-19 February), where the men set world records across five events, some of the biggest names in the women’s field headline competition in Kuala Lumpur.

The women’s up to 45kg will be contested on day one, featuring a series of medallists from major internationals.

China’s Dandan Hu set a 100kg world record on her last outing at the European Open in November 2015. That added to her victory from the Asian Open Championships in July.

However Poland’s Justyna Kozdryk registered her best result since 2010 last week in Dubai, showing she is improving with a 96kg lift.

Vietnam’s world record holder Van Cong Le will take his last opportunity to compete after setting a new best in the men’s up to 49kg in 2015.

Concluding Wednesday’s competitions is the women’s up to 50kg, where Chinese Asian Championships gold medallist Shanshan Shi will look to ensure her place in the top six in the Paralympic rankings.

Mexico’s world and Paralympic champion Amalia Perez will compete in the women’s up to 55kg on Thursday (25 February), dropping down from the up to 61kg.

China’s Cuijuan Xiao makes her first appearance since winning European Open and Asian gold in 2015.

Xiao’s world and Paralympic title holder teammate Lei Liu heads out for the first time this year in the men’s up to 72kg.

Taking her final chance to compete on the international stage before Rio 2016 is France’s Paralympic and European champion Souhad Ghazouani in the women’s up to 73kg on Friday (26 February).

In the women’s up to 79kg Chinese Taipei’s world title holder Tzu-Hui Lin will be hoping to improve on her third place performance from the Asian Championships. China’s Lili Xu finished ahead of Lin on that occasion, taking silver, and will look to build on her performance.

China’s world champion Xiaofei Gu headlines the men’s competitions in the up to 80kg as the world record holder. It will be his first appearance since claiming gold at the European Open.

In the women’s heavyweights, Dutch World Championships bronze medallist Melaica Tuinfort currently sits fifth in the Paralympic rankings for the over 86kg. Tuinfort will be hoping for a strong performance on Saturday (27 February) to secure a place for the Netherlands in Rio.

Greece’s world and European champion Pavlos Mamalos headlines the men’s up to 107kg, also on Saturday.

The IPC Powerlifting World Cup in Kuala Lumpur is the final competition ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Live updates will be posted to @IPCPowerlifting and Facebook.com/IPCPowerlifting between 24-27 February.

More information about qualification for Rio 2016 can be found online.