Mighty Mexicans set to entertain the crowd at the Veracruz World Cup

From the East of Europe to the sunshine of Mexico, World Cup attentions turn to Veracruz this week as the stars of the international stage meet for the latest World Cup of 2023.

Beginning on Thursday (22 June), the World Cup will see three days of competition at the second major of the season.

Who is taking part?

Unsurprisingly for a home event, there is strong Mexican representation across the board! And who better to lead the charge than the iconic Amalia Perez? The 61kg great has won everything there is to win across the circuit, and will have ambitions on a home gold medal to add to an already stacked collection.

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Perla Barcenas is also confirmed in the 86kg category. Perez and Barcenas were also responsible for Mexico's medals in the last World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2021. 

As in Tokyo, Perez took gold and Barcenas bronze. They are just two of the 122 powerlifters set to be in action in Veracruz this week. Unsurprisingly, many of those represent Central and South American nations, but there too is African, Asian and European representation. 

Georgia’s 107kg strongman Giorgi Latsabidze will aim to improve on a silver in Tbilisi, but the man who was in front of him – Akaki Jintcharadze – will be there too.

Ghana and Guinea will be the African representatives in Mexico, while Chinese Taipei will be sending two athletes from Asia to the World Cup. 

For the full list of entrants, click here.

What happened at the last World Cup?

Tbilisi brought the big guns, and they delivered. Mongolia’s Enkhbayaryn Sodnompiljee was in fantastic form to lift a 240kg, as the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist sauntered to a dominant success.

As mentioned earlier, there was significant glory on home soil too for the Georgian contingent. Akaki Jintcharadze was on top of the podium in the men’s over 107kg category, followed by countryman Giorgi Latsabidze.

And records would tumble, with Ahmad Razm Azar and Nataliia Oliinyk both writing their names into the books with successful lifts for European records.

The Ukrainian team as a whole put on an almighty showing, picking up a clean sweep of the team medals to round off the event.

How can I follow?

You will be able to follow all of the action from Veracruz as it happens with the live stream. Head to https://youtube.com/@comiteparalimpicomexicanoo3131 to follow your favourite athletes, or keep on top of the coverage across the World Para Powerlifting Facebook page.

We will also be sharing the best of the photos from across the World Cup to our social media pages, as well as a comprehensive end of event report when all the medals are awarded.

And keep on top of where the medals are going with our live results: https://www.paralympic.org/powerlifting/live-results. 

What’s on next?

There is just the matter of a World Championships to come in Dubai, UAE at the end of August! 

The best in the world will battle it out for the right to claim the top prizes across a thrilling week of action in two month’s time.