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Qatar International Weight Lifting Cup is Underway

Qatar International Weight Lifting Cup is Underway

Ahmed Eltigani

The 6th Edition of the Qatar International Weight Lifting Cup kicked off on Friday at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Doha. The event, which is hosted by the Qatar Weight Lifting Federation, acts as a qualification tournament for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

The opening ceremony was attended by Tamas Ajan, President of the International Weightlifting Federation, Mohamed Yousef Al Mana, the President of the Qatar Weightlifting and Fencing Federation, and Chairman of the Supreme Organizing Committee of the championship, as well as a number of heads of participating federations.

 Under the spotlights in this competition is Qatar’s weightlifting star Fares Ibrahim Hassouna, who bagged two gold medals on his way to securing his spot at the Tokyo Olympics.

 Fares, who is a junior world champion and a world silver medalist at the senior level, won the 96kg class at the Radisson Blu hotel yesterday, lifting 228kg in the clean and jerk and 404kg in total, much to the enjoyment of Qatari fans at the venue. 

Also among the gold medalists in the tournament, Turkey’s Rio Olympics silver medalist Daniyar Ismayilov made a clean sweep in the 73kg weight class, lifting a total of 344kg to win the overall gold in his group. Meanwhile, North Korea’s Sim Choe Hyo won the women’s 64kg gold by lifting a total of 229 kg.