Athletes have made it big time as the Paralympics 2024 powerlifting competition gets underway.
The Paris 2024 powerlifting competition starts off with Jordan’s Omar Qarada and Vietnam’s Le van Cong going head-to-head once more. The former had won the powerlifting gold medal back at Tokyo 2020 while the latter won gold in Rio 2016.
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Qarada vowed to his mother that he would defend his title this year by breaking Cong’s world record of 183.5 kg.
“I know everyone wants to beat me because I am the champion,” Qarada said
In the first competition, Qarada made an 181 kg lift.
Another athlete to look after in this year’s Para powerlifting event is Herbert Aceituno of El Salvador. He won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2016 and is looking forward to reaching the top.
What’s more, China’s Zou Yi is looking to dominate the Men’s category as the defending champion in the Paralympics 2024 powerlifting competition. Yi’s current record is 222 kg, leading potential competitors to aim and lift beyond that. That being said, Yi is facing a number of eager challengers who are after the gold.
Unfortunately, France’s representative, Axel Bourlon, only managed to secure a sixth-place finish. Two out of three judges deemed his first attempt to lift 163 kg invalid. Unfortunately, all three judges invalidated his second attempt at 169 kg.
“It’s a huge disappointment because I didn’t come here for this;” Bourlon stated. “I wanted a medal, and the best one possible. I’m leaving these Games empty-handed.”
The 1st of the Paralympics 2024 Powerlifting competition resulted in Kazakhstan’s David Degtyarev winning over Cuba’s Pablo Barrientos with the former’s 188 kg lift.
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Recently, in the Women’s category, China is taking the lead on the first day, with powerlifter Guo Lingling lighting up to 123kg. Britain’s Zoe Newson made it to second place.
“I am very excited and happy, and the atmosphere at the stadium was also very inspiring to me,” Lingling said. She also added: “The Chinese government spends a lot of money training people. So China will always be first on the gold medal tally.”
Powerlifting Paralympics 2024 schedule will continue with the Women’s category set at 6:00 PM Manila Time and the Men’s Category at 7:35 PM.
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