Vera Muratova extends her lead on Online World Cup Series
Russian lifter wins again in women's category while Kazakhstan’s David Degtyarev makes debut in style with victory in men’s event 02 Jul 2020Vera Muratova seems to be enjoying working from home more than any other participant of the World Para Powerlifting Online World Cup Series, presented by BIGSER.
The Russian lifter has consolidated her position as a ranking leader with a victory in the women’s category in the third edition. It was Muratova’s second win in the Series which also saw her finish second once.
Kazakhstan’s David Degtyarev made his competition debut in style winning the men’s category.
The third edition also established a new record number of athletes with 55 powerlifters from 17 countries joining the competition – including first-timers from Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Chile and Estonia.
Mighty Muratova
Russia’s Muratova scored 121.76 to finish ahead of Brazil’s Mariana D’Andrea (120.59) and Jordan’s Tharwh Alhajaj (105.07).
For D’Andrea, the second place was her best result so far after a third place on Series number 2. Rio 2016 Paralympic medallist Alhajaj competed for the first time in the Online World Cup.
Muratova has now extended her lead in the overall rankings with 193.5 points. Her compatriot Anastasiia Mamadirova is in second place (138) with Brazil’s D’Andrea in third (124).
Degtyarev made an impressive debut scoring 203.03 to stay ahead of Jordan’s two-time Paralympic medallist Omar Qarada who finished second (193.86).
Nur-Sultan 2019 World Championships medallist and Lima 2019 Parapan Am champion Juan Carlos Garrido of Chile ended in third (189.92).
Following his ninth place in the third Series, Italy’s Paolo Agosti took the lead in the men’s overall ranking with 162.5 points.
He is followed by another Italian lifter, Matteo Cattini (150.5) and Colombia’s Jainer Cantillo (146).
Team Yellow win
Captained by Italy's Para powerlifting national team coach Alessandro Boraschi, Team Yellow took its first victory in the virtual Team Captain Challenge.
At every Series, four team captains select two female and two male athletes to their teams and try to predict their results during the Online World Cup Series.
Boraschi scored 577.83 points drafting Garrido, D'Andrea, Algeria's Hocine Bettir and Colombia's Cristina Poblador.
Mexico’s three-time Paralympic champion Amalia Perez finished second with her Team Blue (563.73) followed by Team Green (386.72) and Team Red (355.64).
The next edition of the Online World Cup Series is set to take place in August.
*Correction: The article was first published in 30 June wrongly informing that Team Blue captained by Amalia Perez had won the Team Captain challenge.