In the Third World Women’s Weightlifting championship held at Manchester (UK) from November 24 to 26, India made its presence felt with its contingent of six weightlifters, As many as 26 countries, with 139 players, participated. All previous records were broken in the championship.
Controversies have erupted time and again over the issue of women’s weightlifting competitions. Marathon debates have been held both for and against the event discussing it from the biological point of view. Soon after the 1984 everything from their own pocket except the fares. Despite such a commendable performance, there were not pats, no sponsorships, no job for the unemployed women weightlifters. The players could never perform their best if they felt their future was bleak without job security, he felt.
Still there were medals, five silver and two bronze medals to be precise. In every weight category, there were three medals which, could be won by a single woman weightlifter, snatch, clean and jerk, and the total of the two, In the 44 kg category, Kunjarani Devi won silver in all three. In 52 kg, Lolita Pollay won silver in the snatch and a bronze in the total as she was the overall third. Shyamala Shetty, also in 56 kg won silver in clean and jerk.
Now eight women will participate in the forthcoming Asian Championship to be held at Shangai, China from December 22 to 24.
On the issue of the dominance of China in all the weight categories, Mr. Salwan was of the opinion that the Chinese might have been preparing even before the women’s event was formally approved of internationally. In Manchester except in the 75 kg category where a Bulgarian won the gold, all other gold’s were swept in by the Chinese players. Even the top 20 world rating list contains the Chinese, at the top 10 slots.
The national coach further said it was likely that Bulgaria would become a strong contender in the near future, and so would the USSR which was at the moment still abstaining from the championships. They might come back with @ bang as they could rely on the: experience on the men’s side, he concluded.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 2, 1990
