Worlds medallists and Team Blue win inaugural Online World Cup Series

fA three-time Paralympic champion making her debut as team captain, a Colombian and a Russian World Championships medallists made history as the winners of the first Online World Cup Series presented by BIGSER. 

Russia’s Vera Muratova and Colombia’s Fabio Torres were the best female and male powerlifters among the 25 athletes from 11 countries who submitted videos to World Para Powerlifting competing from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Muratova, who won bronze in the women’s up to 86kg at last year’s World Championships in Nur-Sultan, scored 122.14 points to finish ahead of her compatriot Anastasiia Mamadamirova (108.10) and Kazakhstan’s Raushan Koishibayeva (103.92).

Torres, men’s up to 97kg bronze medallist at Nur-Sultan 2019, scored 194.76 with Italy’s world junior champion Donato Telesca in second (176.52) and another Colombian, Jainer Cantillo in third (173.25).

The Online World Cup also boasts a virtual competition with four captains selecting a team of two female and two male powerlifters. Teams score points for each athlete's individual performance.

Blue victory

Captained by Mexico’s three-time Paralympic gold medallist Amalia Perez, Team Blue finished well ahead the other three contenders with 524.22 points. 

Perez’s squad included Italy’s Telesca alongside three Kazakh lifters, Koishibayeva, Rakhmetzhan Khamayev and Aline Solodukhina.
 
Alessandro Boraschi’s Team Yellow ended in second place (397.73) followed by Sherif Osman’s Team Red (348.07) and Pedro Meloni’s Team Green (108.10).

The Online World Cup Series presented by BIGSER continues in May with the second of the five stages. After each event, athletes earn points to the overall ranking. 

The athlete with highest number of points after the five online competitions will be the 2020 Series winner and will be awarded a bar from World Para Powerlifting partner Eleiko.

You can follow the Online World Cup Series on World Para Powerlifting social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

More information about the competition score system and specific rules are available on World Para Powerlifting website.