Perfect 10 for lifters at Asian Open Championships

Pourmirzaei led all three rounds, not faltering in any of his lifts to win gold ahead of London 2012 bronze medallist Korean Keun Bae Chun with 233kg and Walid Raeilboon of UAE.

The 2013 IPC Powerlifting Asian Open Championships have concluded with a total of 10 world records, including a final flourish for Iran’s Mansour Pourmirzaei on the last day of competition at the Titiwangsa Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The 33-year-old stunned the crowd with a lift of 276kg, destroying the previous men’s over 107kg seniors record of Iraqi Faris Al-Ajeeli by an incredible 36kg. Pourmirzaei led all three rounds, not faltering in any of his lifts to win gold ahead of London 2012 bronze medallist Korean Keun Bae Chun with 233kg and Walid Raeilboon of UAE.

Nigeria top the final medals table with five senior, two silver and three bronze medals as well as two junior golds. China finish just behind with 11 medals including four senior golds and Egypt third with six medals, half of which are golden.

Nigerian Paralympic champion Grace Anozie sealed the medals victory for her country by attempting to break the women’s over 86kg world record with her third lift, but settled for gold with a best just 2kg shy of the 142kg target.

Mexico’s Perla Barcenas ended far from Anozie with her silver medal lift of 115kg and just ahead of South Korean Hyun Jung Lee with 111kg, showing 36-year-old veteran Anozie’s domination heading into the 2014 IPC Powerlifting World Championships in April.

Egyptian Mohamed Abdel Hakam Hammam and teammate Mohamed Elsayed topped the podium in the men’s up to 107kg with a close fight between the two for the gold. Hammam, 34, edged Elsayed by just 1kg with a golden second lift of 222kg whilst Elsayed lifted 221kg in the same round. Both men failed their third attempts whilst China’s Pingguang Tian worked his way up to a best of 202kg for bronze.

The last of the women’s events saw China’s 31-year-old Xuemei Deng push 111kg to claim gold in the up to 86kg category. The closest competitor was Malaysian Norfariza Mortada for silver with 70kg, with the bronze medal place on the podium vacant following Catalina Diaz Vilchis’s failure to clear the bar on any of her attempts.

Around 200 athletes from 30 countries competed at the 2013 IPC Powerlifting Asian Open Championships, ahead of the World Championships which take place in Dubai, UAE, from 5-11 April 2014.

As well as competing for a Minimum Qualifying Standard for the World Championships, athletes and teams have also been spending time during the week attending educational seminars on anti-doping.

Raise the Bar – Say NO! to Doping was rolled out in Kuala Lumpur for the first time and aims to target around 500 lifters as well as coaches and teams, and provides one-one education, training and practical testing of the knowledge they have gained.

The project, funded by the Agitos Foundation, will run at a variety of international and national competitions over the coming months including the 2014 World Championships.