Alpha Weightlifting Club win the title for the best weightlifting Club in Malta
Last Sunday the Malta Weightlifting Association organised the annual MWA Club competition at the Cottonera Sport Complex. Six different weightlifting clubs from across the island battling it out to win the prestigious Shield. However, just as they did in 2017, the Alpha Weightlifting Club proved dominant, winning the Club’s league by over 650 Sinclair points.
The Alpha Weightlifting club was represented by a selection of 14 athletes, ranging from cadets, youths and juniors to the male and female senior athletes. The MWA has been tirelessly working to increase the number of youngsters in the gym, and this is constantly reflected in the number of children competing at these events. Most noticeably from the cadets, 12year-old Kyle Camilleri showed great confidence and technical precision, finishing with a 61kg total and 123 sinclair points. Other up and coming youngsters are Blake Attard, finishing with 48kg total and 69 points, as well as Tristan Zammit who finished the competition on Sunday with a personal best total of 154kg which is equivalent to 170 points.
Alpha Weightlifting’s Ladies team proved very strong with national record holders, and national team athletes Yasmin Zammit Stevens, Elisia Scicluna and youth athlete Shelby Mangion Vassallo all lifting for the club. Both Yasmin and Elisia finished with very easy totals and acquired 211 and 194 sinclair points respectively. Mangion Vassallo finished with a huge clean and jerk personal best of 76kg, which along with her 61kg snatch produced a 179 sinclair point result breaking a whopping 8 national records in the process. The Alpha Men stars of the day were Malta’s veteran weightlifter Rodmar Pulis and Vlad Baldacchino who finished with 284 and 305 sinclair points respectively. Another noticeable results came from junior athlete, Andy Grech, who had an excellent meet ending with a 205kg total and 249 sinclair points, and also Matthew Abela who finished with a personal best total of 165kg total and 213 points.
The Alpha Weightlifting team were followed by Crossfit 356 with their most noticeable athlete being Kyle Micallef who finished 273 sinclair points. Northern Strength Weightlifting were the 3rd place finishers with Anton Micallef and Matthew Camilleri both lifting very well on the day. Micallef finished with a total of 222kg, equivalent to 258 sinclair points while Camilleri finished with 235kg total which is equivalent to 278 sinclair points.
Another participating Club was the University of Malta’s club, Degree Plus , with their most successful competitor being U-20 athlete, Keith Azzopardi, who finished with personal best lifts across the board and a 193kg total which produced a 245 sinclair point result. The ‘Training Room’ Club were positively represented by athlete Shaun Ciantar, who finished with a 215kg total and 273 sincalir points. Shawn Incorvaja was ‘Tritones SC’’s most point producing athlete, where he finished with 150kg total and 174 sinclair points.
Youth athlete, Shelby Mangion Vassallo will be competing at the European Youth Championships coming up next week in Milan as part of her long and tough preparation towards the Youth Olympic Games set to take place this October in Buenos Aires. Both her coach, Jesmond Caruana, and herself will be busy in the next few months leading up to the YOG to fully prepare in the best way possible for this major event.