Incredible year comes to an end
The Malta Weightlifting Association has bid farewell to an incredible 2019 as a Maltese National Team competed at the last planned event of the year in London. Yazmin Zammit Stevens, Roberta Tabona, Shaun Ciantar and Vlad Baldacchino were the team competing against Crystal Palace and other British team at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre.
Even though the team of four finished in 2nd overall, the individual girls result placed Yazmin and Roberta in first and second respectively. Indeed, a common trait for 2019, the Maltese girls dominated at the competition with Zammit Stevens finishing with yet another National Record in the clean and jerk at 107kg in the 71kg category. Along with her 83kg Snatch, she managed a total of 190kg. Tabone also had an excellent competition with an equal best of 76kg snatch, equal best of 95kg clean and jerk and a competition personal best 171kg total.
The boys group consisting of Vlad and Shaun, had a rather rough start to the competition managing to lift only one f their three snatch attempts successfully. Ciantar (-81kg) made 103kg on his last attempt while Vlad only managed his first 125kg attempt. Shaun Ciantar stepped it up for the clean and jerks and managed to successfully lift 122kg and 126kg on his 1st and 2nd attempt, with 126kg being an equal competition best. Vlad mirrored his performance from the snatch and only made his first attempt at 152kg. He went on to miss his second attempt at 158kg and 3rd at 160kg.
The Malta vs. Crystal Palace meet in London has become a traditional meet for both the Maltese and British clubs. President of the MWA, Jesmond Caruana, was awarded a special commemorative award on the day by Crystal Palace coach Keith Morgan who spoke about the competitions history since 2005.
2019 has been a series of National records (and a few European Records at that), making history, winning medals and constant improvement for the MWA. The annual MWA sports awards will be held next week awarding all top Maltese lifters.
However, with 2019 coming to an end, no one is sitting back and taking a break. Already athletes are preparing for a tough competition period early next year. Zammit Stevens will be participating in the next phase of Olympic Qualifiers with her first one being at the end of January in Rome. She will then compete at the Malta International Open, along with other national team athletes.