Paralympians and Japanese powerlifters dominate World Cup

Tokyo had a first taste of what to expect at next year’s Paralympic Games when 64 athletes from 12 countries took part in the final World Cup of the 2019 Para powerlifting season.

The competition took place at the Tokyo International Forum, the same venue that will host the sport during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

The local powerlifters took six gold medals to hosts followed by South Korea with three.

Men’s events

France’s Axel Bourlon beat Great Britain’s Rio 2016 medallist Ali Jawad to take gold in the men’s up to 54kg with a 161kg result. Jawad finished second (147kg) and Japan’s Mitsunori Ichikawa (133kg) third.

Kentaro Higuchi was responsible for one of the hosts’ four medals in men’s events. A lift of 175kg took him to the top of the podium in the men’s up to 72kg.

Italy’s world junior champion Donato Telesca was silver (171kg) and another Japanese powerlifter, Nobuhiro Saitoh, bronze (146kg).

London 2012 Paralympic Games medallist Keun Bae Chun of South Korea won the men’s over 107kg competition (221kg) leaving Georgia’s Iago Gorgodze in second (200) and Kyrgyzstan’s Adilet Kamchybekov (175kg). 

Women’s events

Souhad Ghazouani’s list of accolades already included three Paralympic Games medals – one of them a gold from London 2012. Now she can add the Tokyo 2020 test event to it as the French powerlifter won the women’s up to 73kg with a lift of 113kg.

Great Britain’s Louise Sugden lifted a personal best of 122kg to take gold in the women’s up to 86kg. 
South Korea made it a one-two podium in the women’s up to 67kg with Hyeong Hui Kim (105kg) and Yuseon Hwang (75kg). Ireland’s Nicola Dore took bronze (65kg).

All results from the Tokyo 2019 World Cup can be found here.

The results from the whole 2019 World Para Powerlifting World Cup season are available here.