Tbilisi 2021: Day four preview

More action is coming up on the fourth competition day of the Tbilisi 2021 World Para Powerlifting Championships.

There are two events on the schedule on Wednesday, 1 December, with the women's up to 67kg and men's up to 65kg categories taking the centre stage in the Georgian capital.

Morning session

Female Para powerlifters will kick off the competition on day four with three groups taking place in the women's up to 67kg category. The programme starts at 10:00 (local time).

Tan Yuijao of China is going into the battle for gold as the two-time Paralympic and world champion. She won the second Paralympic title this year at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games lifting 133kg in the third attempt.

She unsuccessfully went for the 'power lift' to try and break the world record with the bar set at 141kg.

Yuijao is going to face a big challenge against the three-time Paralympic and two-time world champion Lucy Ejike of Nigeria.

She won the bronze medal in Tokyo in the women's up to 61kg category and decided to climb into the higher weight category at the start of the road to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Egypt's three-time Paralympic medallist and London 2012 gold medallist Fatma Omar completes the star-studded line-up in the women's up to 67kg category at the Tbilisi 2021 Worlds. She is in fine form coming to the Georgian capital having won the silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Kazakhstan's Raushan Koishibayeva, the first Para powerlifter in her country's history to win a Paralympic medal (silver at Rio 2016), will try to take home her first World Championships accolade in Tbilisi.

Maria Markou from Cyprus will make history for the European country as the first Para powerlifter to take on the World Championships stage in the women's up to 67kg category.

Afternoon session

The men’s up to 65kg category will be one of the largest events of the whole competition in Tbilisi with four groups to take on the stage at the Hualing Ballroom.

With China’s four-time Paralympic champion Liu Lei retiring after Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, it is all to play for in the men’s up to 65kg category with many Para powerlifters having their eyes on the main prize.

Iran’s Amir Jafari Arangeh is still waiting for his first international title having won the silver medal at the Mexico City 2017 World Championships and Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Algeria’s Hocine Bettir is coming to Tbilisi as Arangeh’s main rival in the category. He has won silver at the Nur-Sultan 2019 World Championships and a bronze medal in Tokyo three months ago.

The highly anticipated men’s up to 65kg category kicks off at 14:25 (local time) with Group D as the first on the schedule.

The Tbilisi 2021 World Para Powerlifting Championships is live streamed on the World Para Powerlifting website and the World Para Powerlifting Facebook page.

Complete schedule and results are available at the Tbilisi 2021 microsite.