International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Preident Dr Tamas Ajan expressed his delight at the rapid way the Qatar International Weightlifting Cup has been progressing year after year.
Dr Ajan said that the Qatar Cup highlights the tremendous development Qatar has achieved in all spheres of life, especially in hosting big sporting events.
“The Qatar Cup has this year acquired the qualifying status and is one of the six events the world will hold for the ranking purpose for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. It is indeed a major achievement for the event and Qatar,” he added.
The Qatar Cup was the second leg, following an event in Turkmenistan. The third leg is the Fajr International Tournament in Iran, while the fourth will be hosted by China. The fifth and sixth are scheduled to take place in Thailand and Kazakhstan.
Ajan said that any weightlifter, who wins a medal in three of these international championships, would qualify directly for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.
He also lauded the efforts of Mohammad Yousef al Mana, President of the Qatar, Arab and Asian weightlifting bodies and Vice-President of the IWF, for promoting the sport at all the national, regional and continental levels.
With the Qatar Cup having the Olympic qualifying status, a big turn-out of lifters assembled in Doha to collect maximum possible points. Thirty-three countries sent 117 lifters to the two-day event, which came to a thrilling close.
Qatar’s Fares Ibrahim Hassouna and Taipei’s Kuo Hsing-Chun were declared the best of the Qatar Cup. Fares collected 856.1611 points, finishing ahead of Rejepbay Rejepov (833.1268) of Turkmenistan and Doston Yokubov (822.2037) of Uzbekistan. In the women’s section, Kuo netted 945.0241 points while China’s Luo Xiaomin and Zhang Yujuan finished second and third, respectively.
Hassouna credited his success to the support provided by the Qatar Olympic Committee under the chairmanship of HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al Thani and Qatari body Mana. Kazakhstan topped the men’s team standings while China won the women’s title.
African weightlifting body chief Khaled Mhalhel also heaped praise on the event, Qatar and its promising lifter Hassouna. He said the event had very high technical levels and produced some amazing performances from both men and women participants, especially young man Hassouna.
He also predicted that Hassouna, who created two junior world records and clean-swept 96kg class, has the potential to become a world class lifter if he could continue progressing at the current technical levels.
He also congratulated the organising body, headed by Mohammad Yousef al Mana, for delivering a high-class event.
On the absence of the African lifters, he explained, “The African lifters, especially from the Arab countries, could not contest in Doha as the dates clashed with the Arab and Islamic Solidarity Championships, organised by Egypt.
