Asia’s Biggest Event in Nepal from Today

July 21, 2017

Nepal is all set to host the Asia’s biggest event that has a record number of countries participating in it.

The Asian Junior Weightlifting Championship, starting from today in Kathmandu, will be followed by meetings of various Asian Weightlifting Federations (AWF) on Saturday and Sunday.

“The Championships will be attended by 307 weightlifters from 34 countries, a record participation in Asia at such kind of event,” said Parth Sarathi Sen Gupta, general secretary of the Nepal Weightlifting Association (NWA), at a press conference on Thursday.

International Weightlifting Federation President Tamas Azan and its General Secretary Mohamed Jalood, who is also the AWF general secretary, attended the press conference.

Gupta also informed that delegates from around 38 countries will visit the country to conduct AWF general assembly on the sidelines of the event.

Meanwhile, IWF President Tamas Azan termed Nepal as a ‘great federation’ and expressed IWF’s readiness to support the country anytime.

Apart from the participants of 38 countries, the event will also witness an additional 197 male and 110 female weightlifters.

Though the event is scheduled between July 21-29, 2017, the competitions will start from July 24, 2017 at the Army Physical Training and Sports Complex in Lagankhel. Participants will be competing for a total of 96 gold medals, 48 each in men and women categories.

This Event Will Benefit Nepal, Says NWF President

“The Championship will benefit Nepal the most. Despite very low investment, players are coming from the grassroot level. In the past, there was a trend of getting into weightlifting only after 20 years of age. But now we have 40 weightlifters in youth and junior level. From that pool, 13 weightlifters are competing in the Champion-ships. This event will help in players’ development,” says Ratan Kumar Tandon, president, NWF.

Besides, International Weightlifting Federation has assured us that we will be provided hosting rights for the World Championships in 2019 if we manage to successfully pull this event off, he added.