Egyptian women weightlifters returned home with with a gold, four silver and three bronze medals from the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Junior World Championships in Wroclaw, Poland. The 6-14 June event included Argentina, Australia, Armenia, Brazil, Belarus, Canada, Egypt, Colombia, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Iceland, Iraq, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Russia, Romania, Turkey, Thailand, Tunisia, Poland, Spain, Slovakia, Serbia, Moldova, Mexico, North Korea, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, the US and Vietnam. Altogether 236 athletes competed — 96 women from 29 countries and 135 men from 35 countries. The Egyptian team included Heba Saleh, 48kg, Basma Emad, 53kg, Israa Al-Sayed, 63kg, Sara Samir, 69kg, Halima Abdel-Azim, +75kg, Mustafa Wahid, 62kg, Ahmed Emad,77kg, Ezzeddin Thabet,77kg, Mohamed Shaker, 85kg, Ahmed Mustafa,85kg and Omar Abdel-Wahab, 105kg. In the women's 53kg bodyweight category, Emad won third place in the 106kg in the clean and jerk, plus a bronze medal for the total 189 kilogrammes lifted. In the women's 63kg bodyweight category, Al-Sayed ended in second place with a gold medal in the snatch with 99kg lifted and a silver medal for a total number of 214 kilogrammes lifted. In the women's 69kg bodyweight category, Samir finished in second place by collecting three silver medals in the snatch with a heave of 102kg lifted and in the clean and jerk with 130kg for a total 232 kilogrammes lifted. In the women's +75 kg bodyweight category, Abdel-Azim finished in fourth place and took a bronze medal in the clean and jerk, 141kg lifted. According to the team classification, the first six best men and women teams went on stage during the closing ceremony to receive a special award. Egypt came in fifth place in the overall women's team classification with 342 points. The IWF Media Trophy for best woman lifter was awarded to Samir while for the men the winner was the Russian Khugaev Khetag. President of the Egyptian Weightlifting Federation (EWF) Mahmoud Mahgoub told Al-Ahram Weekly, “Samir was awarded the best weightlifter in the championship for her overall results during the last three years. She has been the world champion for three consecutive years.” Samir's first appearance in international competition was in 2013 when she was world champion in the International Wrestling Federation (IWF) Youth World Championships U17 at Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She booked a place for Egypt in the women's event in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). She took first place with three gold medals in the snatch with a heave of 101kg lifted, in the clean and jerk with 120kg and a total of 221kg in the women's 63kg weight category. She was also a gold medallist at the 2014 YOG in Nanjing, China. The 17-year-old made history by winning a gold medal in the women's 63kg weightlifting category on 21 August. She became the first Egyptian woman to win an individual gold medal in Olympic competitions. It was also the first Olympic medal for the Egyptian delegation in the YOG. In addition, Samir won three gold medals in the 2015 IWF Youth World championship U17. Also this year she won second place at the 2015 IWF Junior World Championships U 20. Samir is in category older than her age. “The men's weightlifters didn't achieve good results due to the change of their technical coach,” Mahgoub said. “The Egyptian team at present consists of 11 men and seven women. They are in a training camp to get ready for the 11th frican Games in Congo from 6 -12 September. Mahgoub added that the IWF World Championships in the US is a qualifying event for Olympic Games in Rio 2016 to be held from 20-29 November. “It will be training camp abroad in Hungary for three weeks before the African Games and another one in America before the IWF World championships. The final choice of the athletes has not yet been decided,” said Mahgoub. On Wednesday last week, Egyptian Minister Youth and Sports Khaled Abdel-Aziz paid a visit to the training camp of the weightlifting team at Tulip Sports City Hotel in Nasr City to familiarise himself with their preparations ahead of the African Games and IWF World Championships. Abdel-Aziz was keen to meet all the athletes, coaches and technical and administrative committees, to follow up on the progress of the camp, listen to what the athletes and coaches had to say and work on removing any obstacles. He showed his full support for the team in order that they qualify for Rio in 2016. “It was a generous gesture from the minister,” added Mahgoub. “It was the first time for him to visit the weightlifting team. It meant a lot to the weightlifters.”
