Weightlifting: From Cali to Tashkent to Tokyo

(ATR) The best result of the recent international weightlifting tournaments in Cali was zero cases of Covid-19 infections and no incidents amid the health and social crises in Colombia.

In contrast, less than a week after the closing of those championships, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) decided on May 20 to remove Colombia from co-hosting Copa América 2021 with Argentina.

The Colombian government had requested to postpone the oldest competition of soccer teams in the world untilNovember due to the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic; the Copa América had already been postponed in 2020 for this same reason.

Doubts about the holding of the event were also increased by the wave of street protests and acts of violence in Colombia.

Likewise, in recent weeks, CONMEBOL had to face problems organizing the matches of the Colombian teams in the Libertadores and Suramericana Cups.

Now it is expected that CONMEBOL will decide if there will be a new co-host or if Argentina will host the entire competition, scheduled to begin on June 13.

Cali was one of the four Colombian sub-sites of the Copa América and also the setting for the South American, Ibero-American and Open Championships, Silver Level, qualifying weightlifting for the Tokyo Olympic Games, from May 10 to 14.

These tournaments ran the risk of being canceled. The International Weightlifting Federation and the Pan American Weightlifting Federation monitored the outcome of events every minute.

"All the protection measures adopted gave results," the president of the Colombian Federation, William Peña, tells Around the Rings.

The safety of the athletes was guaranteed.

The Latin American region has managed to get good marks with the weightlifting world thanks to the organization of the qualifying championships to Tokyo 2020 in recent weeks, first in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and now in Cali, which was the last opportunity to obtain points for those of the adult category in the Americas.

TASHKENT THE LAST CHANCE

The Colombian city was the prelude to the World Junior Championship up to 20 years that has started in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, and which has also succeeded on more than one occasion in the organization of important tournaments. The event was originally scheduled for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Tashkent will be the last world chance, in this case for the youngest, to rise in the ranking of the classification and secure one of the few Olympic places left for Tokyo while the expectation grows for learning the definitive adjustment that the IWF will make in the middle of June.

More than 240 competitors will be in Tashkent from this Friday . Turkey and The United States are the most represented.

With the African championship in Kenya, starting on May 24, the process will close with the new qualifying system.

RECORDS, ILLUSIONS AND FAILURES

Around a dozen Pan-American records were surpassed in Cali with the Colombian Luis Javier Mosquera, bronze in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, as the great male figure in the international weightlifting week.

Mosquera, in addition to his records, imitated his performance from days ago in the Pan-American Championship in Santo Domingo, and won six gold medals and commanded the points table as Most Outstanding Athlete. In Rio he had finished fourth by one kilogram but after the confirmation a positive doping test by a rival, he was awarded his bronze medal in March 2019 after a long process.

Along with the continental and regional records, several athletes also improved their personal marks, such as the Venezuelan Keydomar Vallenilla, winner in 96 kg, after failing in Santo Domingo. This division registered the great disappointment of the Open "Silver Level" when the champion Iranian Olympian Sohrab Moradi was out of the Tokyo Games.

Moradi apparently injured his left wrist and resigned after three fouls at the start, leaving the way for Vallenilla, world junior runner-up and adult world bronze.

The other participating Olympic gold medalist, Lydia Valentín of Spain, competed in the Ibero-American at 87 kg, a higher weight than normal for her. She weighed in but then did not compete, though according to accounts that was enough for her to guarantee a spot in her fourth Olympic Games.

The emblematic weightlifter was helped by one of the rules of the new classification system adopted by the IWF together with the International Olympic Committee on the number of participations required in a given period.

In the Tokyo Games, Valentin will be looking for a fourth Olympic medal. For now, we will have to wait until June to know if he will compete in 76 kg (her three medals were won in the 75 kg category) or in the 87 kg

In Cali the Japanese Navy led by super heavyweight Eishiro Murakami was the most outstanding among the men. For its part, Ecuador distinguished itself among women with its powerful quartet made up of Patricia Dajomes, Tamara Salazar, Angie Paola Palacios and María A. Escobar.

In the South American and Ibero-American Championships, Colombia led in the men's sector.

For the Tokyo Olympic Games in each category, the first eight of the ranking and the best of each continent are classified, a process in which the level of the qualifying event (Gold, Silver, Bronze) and other qualifiers that will lead are also taken into account. to the Olympic definitions in a few weeks.

Written and reported by Miguel Hernandez

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