The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Academy given a real lift
CUBE PROSPECTS WEIGH IN WITH NATIONAL TITLE SUCCESS
CUBE Weightlifting Academy enjoyed medal success at the English Age Group Championships.
The North Tyneside-based club’s 13-strong squad came home with 11 medals and five new English titles.
The Age Group Championship, held in Oldbury, West Midlands, were for lifters in age categories ranging from under-10s to under23s.
The Academy had two under-12 girls and eight under-10 and 12-yearold boys competing, together with an under-17 and two under-20 weightlifters.
First to lift in the under-12 girls’ section were Alexis Brown (12) and Ellie-leigh Johnson (11) who totalled 43kgs and 101kgs respectively.
Brown, who holds the 2021 British title, earned a silver medal and Johnson, also a British title holder, became English champion with a gold medal.
Contesting the under-10 boys’ competition were Leon Moradi (8), Dylan Barker (9), Vinnie Greaves (10) and Ryan Gray (10).
All four were lifting in their first championships, having only taken part in development competitions previously.
Moradi totalled 33kgs and won a gold medal in his section, Barker lifting 25kgs and winning silver in his body weight category.
Greaves weighed in with 40kgs and Ryan 48kgs in claiming silver and bronze respectively in their weight categories.
Also lifting were under-12s Ewan Steele (11), Kourosh Mosavi (12) and Darius Mosavi (11).
All three have competed before in national championships and hold several titles between them both regionally and nationally.
Steele lifted 67kgs and came fifth in a very competitive category.
As under-10 and 12-year-olds are also ranked by a point-scoring system in addition to the weight lifted, he missed out on valuable points which would have ranked him second had he been successful.
Kourosh and Darius Mosavu totalled 61kgs and 68kgs respectively, both winning English titles in the process.
Last to lift on the first day of the competition was under-17 Amir Doshman-ziari, who is also on the British Weightlifting talent pathway.
He managed a massive 240kgs and came home with a long-awaited English title.
On the second day of the competition, former British and English champion Theo Bayne-dixon and teammate Adam Olaore were in action.
Both were competing in the under-20 years sub-89kgs body weight categories.
Bayne-dixon weighed in with 218kgs and Olaore with 195kg.
While Olaore narrowly missed out on a bronze, having come fourth - an impressive feat in his first national championships and in a competitive category with no other novice lifters - Bayne-dixon earned a silver.
The youngsters were coached by Josh Mosavi and Tina Shaw, who are both weightlifters and international -accredited referees with British Weightlifting and the International Weightlifting Federation.
Mosavi recently won the European Masters title and took silver in the 2021 World Masters Championship.
He said: “I could not have been prouder of our team. We were disappointed for Ewan and Adam but they both showed exceptional sportsmanship and are determination to win next time.
“The pandemic was hard on our team with stop-start training because of lockdowns and isolating.
“However, our athletes have shown great determination and resilience.
“We are already thinking about the British Age Groups Championship later in the year and I am sure we will be even more successful.”