Great Britain's Micky Yule secures international PB at 2015 IPC Powerlifting Asia Open Championships

British Weight Lifting’s Micky Yule achieved an international personal best of 190kg in his third and final lift at the 2015 IPC Powerlifting Asia Open Championships yesterday (Monday 27 July) to finish in fifth place at the latest Rio 2016 qualifying event in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Competing in the men’s 72kg category, Yule, who is part of the Help for Heroes Recovery Programme, opened the competition with a lift of 183kg; his heaviest ever opening lift. Having then missed his second lift and first attempt of 190kg, Yule was awarded a successful lift at the same weight in the third and final round, securing him the competition’s fifth place, an international personal best and eighth place in the IPC world rankings.

In order to qualify for Rio 2016, athletes must meet the IPC Powerlifting Paralympic Minimum Qualification Standard (MQS) for their respective weight category; the top eight ranked male athletes and top six ranked female athletes in each weight category as of 29 February 2016 will be awarded places at next summer’s Paralympic Games.

Yule’s performance in Almaty follows on from his second place finish at the British Para-Powerlifting Championships last month, where he was runner up to current IPC World Champion Ali Jawad.

Four-time Paralympian Natalie Blake also competed yesterday, in what was the second of four days of competition; with a successful opening lift of 91kg but two failed attempts at 95kg, Blake secured third place in the women’s 50kg category; she remains just outside of the Rio 2016 qualification places in seventh place in the 55kg class and eighth place in the 50kg class.

Both Yule and Blake are part of British Weight Lifting’s World Class Programme, funded by UK Sport and the National Lottery.

"Conditions were tough for the athletes yesterday; in Micky’s class alone there were 21 athletes across three groups and a delayed start to the competition meant that both warm up time and available space was limited, so Micky had to remain focused and ensure any disruptions to his preparations did not affect him on the bench," said Tom Whittaker, British Weight Lifting’s Paralympic performance manager.

"It was a mixed day for our athletes as Natalie will be disappointed with two failed lifts despite finishing in bronze medal position and remaining in a positive position going into the next competition; Micky’s performance was a real boost to his Rio 2016 qualification campaign and to achieve an international PB was a fantastic achievement, but there is still a long way to go until listing closes and our athletes know that they need to continue to work hard in training and at competition to give them the best possible chance of achieving qualification for next summer’s Paralympic Games."

For the full results from the 2015 IPC Powerlifting Asia Open Championships visit: http://www.paralympic.org/almaty-2015/schedule-results.

The next Rio 2016 qualifying event is the 2015 IPC Powerlifting European Open Championships in Eger, Hungary, on 24-28 November.

For more information, contact:

Lauren Chambers

lauren.chambers@110percent.co.uk

+44 (0) 1183 272940

Jonathan Wilson

jonathan.wilson@110percent.co.uk

+44 (0) 1183 272940

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