Vera Muratova and David Degtyarev dominate Online World Cup Series

If working from home is the new normal, then Vera Muratova is definitely thriving. The Russian powerlifter beat 20 competitors to win the women’s category in the fourth edition of the World Para Powerlifting Online World Cup Series, presented by BIGSER.

It was Muratova’s third victory in four competitions. Kazakhstan’s David Degtyarev won the men’s event clinching his second victory in two participations.

The fourth edition of the Online World Cup Series took place on Monday (31 August) to mark the one-year-to go celebrations to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. 

As in previous events, athletes had the opportunity to submit up to four videos of their lifts competing from home or their local gym. 

The difference this time was that the Technical Officials judged the attempts during a live show broadcast on World Para Powerlifting Facebook page with almost 18,000 views. 

Overall rankings lead

A record number of 21 countries took part in the competition, including six newcomers: Benin, Cape Verde, Egypt, Japan, Lithuania and Spain.

Degtyarev faced fierce competition from Jordan’s Abdelkareem Khattab, the winner of the second edition, but managed to clinch victory scoring 197.94 points.

Khattab finished second among 23 competitors (196.67), followed by Brazil’s Bruno Carra (191.04).

Muratova dominated the women’s competition scoring 117.47 points with Egypt’s Rehab Ahmed taking second place in her debut (114.77). Russia’s Anastasiia Mamadamirova finished third (106.94).

With this success, Muratova has an even more comfortable lead in the overall series rankings with 247.5 points ahead of Italy's Paolo Agosti (201.5) and compatriot Mamadamirova (184.5). The overall series winner will receive a bar from World Pora Powerlifting Official Partner Eleiko.

Dates for the fifth and final Online World Cup Series are to be confirmed.