UAE’s Almutaiwei takes two bronze medals, Iranian Gharibshahi sets new world record

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Promising Ayesha Almutaiwei claimed two bronze medals for the hosts UAE as the individual competition at the Fazza 12th Dubai 2022 Para Powerlifting World Cup came to a close on Sunday.

Almutaiwei managed a lift of 66kg to end in the third place in the Best Lift category behind Brazil’s Marcia Cristina Menezes (116kg) and Korea’s Sunjeong Choe (103kg).

In the Total Lift category, the UAE player totalled 126 kg to also finish third behind the Korean and Brazilian.

The 16-year-old, however, took the gold medal in the Rookie Best and Total category owing to her effort.

At the end of the individual events, Brazil topped the medals table in Elite category with 11 medals including five gold, followed by Iran and Jordan with five and three gold medals, respectively. UAE ended in the 11th position with four medals including one silver.

In the men’s up to 107 kg, Iranian Aliakbar Gharibshahi produced a powerful show to set a new world record en route winning the gold medal.

Gharibshahi lifted 254kg in his final lift to better his own record by one kg. In the effort, he also shocked Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Sodnompiljee Enkhbayar from Mongolia who managed 250kg.

Meanwhile, Iranian lifters claimed the one-two position in the men’s over 107 kg event.  

While Ahmad Aminzadeh lifted 265 kg for the gold medal in Best Lift and Total Category (772), fellow lifter Mahdi Sayadi managed 238 kg for the second place.

Around 200 lifters from 40 nations competed in the final World Para Powerlifting World Cup of the season with Paralympic and World stars in the star-studded line-up.

The event, which ended on Sunday, offered important world ranking in the qualification pathway to the Paris 2022 Paralympic Games.