Bahrain, Day 7: Gold for Kazakhstan and PRK – and a B Group medal for Nigerian arm-wrestler

Kazakhstan had its first winner, PRK had its ninth, and a teenaged Nigerian arm-wrestling champion shed tears of frustration then joy when she won a medal on total from the B group at the IWF World Championships in Bahrain.

Nurgissa Adiletuly came out top in a desperately close finish to the men’s 96kg and declared, “The future starts now for Kazakhstan, we have a very strong team.” Adiletuly expects team-mate Artyom Antropov to follow up with victory on Friday at 102kg.

Nurgissa Adiletuly (KAZ)

In the women’s 76kg PRK won yet again when Song Kuk Hyang finished a long way clear of Miyareth Mendoza from Colombia. Sarah Matthew topped the B Group and finished third on total despite missing three of her attempts, one of which was an embarrassing time-out error.

Song Kuk Hyang (PRK)

At the end of that B session, Matthew was slumped in her chair in tears. She had a two-minute clock for her second snatch on 116kg but was timed out. She came back for the junior world record on 118kg and failed.

“I lost track of time. I’m sure if I had made the 116 I would have got the record, that’s why I was crying,” she said.

She was back at her hotel when she got the call to return to the competition venue halfway through the late-night A session. There were plenty more tears during the medal presentation, this time from pride and joy.

Matthew has never lifted internationally before but she has won gold at the All African Games.  “I won twice, left and right, in arm-wrestling,” she said. She and her 55kg team-mate Onome Didih, who was fifth from the B group, are both targeting gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Sarah Matthew (NGR)

Song Kuk Hyang made four from six for 116-148-264, and Mendoza also made four good lifts for 111-137-248. Matthew, 18, made 110-135-245 and might have finished second but for the timing mishap. Bella Paredes from Ecuador was fourth on 105-136-241.

Mattie Rogers from the United States suffered disappointment on her return to international lifting. Things had gone well in a recent national competition, but this time Rogers failed with all three snatches on 105kg and failed to make a total.

Laura Horvath (HUN)

Laura Horvath from Hungary, a huge name in CrossFit and winner of the CrossFit Games last year, lifted in the B Group.

“Weightlifting is way more stressful,” she said. “You only get six opportunities here, and you get plenty more than that in CrossFit. It’ also more serious, more professional and I enjoy that. Weightlifting is exciting, a breath of fresh air for me after CrossFit.”

Two 17-year-olds failed with youth world record attempts at 131kg in clean and jerk, Ayanat Zhumagali from Kazakhstan and Jeon Heesoo from Korea. Jeon holds the record on total at 232kg, but was well below that today.

Georgia and Iran were on the podium for the first time here in the men’s contest. The ultra-consistent Revaz Davitadze finished second and Ali Alipour from Iran was third.

Davitadze was up to 96kg for the first time, having won countless medals at lower weights, including a junior world title. He made all six for 177-210-387, his biggest career total by 13kg.

Alipour made the biggest jump of the session, up 9kg in clean and jerk, to finish third on 173-214-387. His team-mate Alireza Moeini had made only one snatch but it was good enough for silver in that discipline. He was seventh in a close finish on total.

Clean and jerk gold, ahead of Adiletuly and Alipour, went to Won Jongbeom from Korea, who missed his last attempt at 221kg and finished sixth.

Ramiro Mora Romero (WRT)

The B Group featured an impressive debutant from China and a solid performance at a new weight for a member of the Weightlifting Refugee Team (WRT). Qian Feixiang, 21, improved his best national total by 10kg in making 175-210-385 for snatch bronze and fourth place on total.

Ramiro Mora Romero, a refugee living in Britain who lifted at the Paris Olympic Games for the WRT, set three national records when he made 166-203-369. He can compete at national level while he is applying for British citizenship.

It has been a year to remember for Romero, originally from Cuba, who learned that he had made the team for Paris in April on the same day his daughter Nabella was born. But life is hard.

“I train alone and I can’t afford to train full-time because I have a family to support,” said Romero, who coaches and works in a gym. “I don’t drive so I have to cycle to work every day, and it’s often raining.

“Now I have to wait nearly a year for my next competition, the 2025 World Championships, because I can’t lift as a refugee at the European Championships. Things are difficult, it’s a hard life, but I really want to keep going through to Los Angeles 2028.”

Presenters of the women’s 76kg medals: Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq (Bahrain Weightlifting Federation President), Mohammed Jalood (IWF President), Sir Christopher Geidt, and Sam Coffa (IWF Technical Committee chair and IWF EB member)

Alipour received his medals – bronze in clean and jerk and total – from Iran’s double Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh, who had watched from the stands.

Another VIP medal presenter was Sir Christopher Geidt from Britain, who was the late Queen’s private secretary for 10 years. He is a member of the House of Lords.

Sir Christopher watched weightlifting at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and enjoyed the women’s competition tonight. He confirmed that Queen Elizabeth had been interested in the sport, and that multiple weightlifting champion Precious McKenzie was one of her favourite athletes.

By Brian Oliver

Photos by DBM/Deepbluemedia