Local weightlifters head for world champs

Chris Theko

Top local weightlifters, Machachamise Ntšinyi and Thapelo Sebota will be looking to hoist the national flag when they compete in the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from December 7-17.

Ntšinyi will compete in the 73kg division while Sebota will battle-it-out in the 61kg weight class.

In an interview with NewsdaySport, Nthabiseng Shale, the Lesotho Weightlifting Federation (LWF) Public Relations Officer, said the championships will also be held as qualifiers for the Commonwealth Games set for Birmingham, England in July next year.

She said Sebota is currently number 15 while Ntšinyi is ranked 14th on the African continent in their respective weight classes, adding that the duo should fit into the top 10 to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.

NtÅ¡inyi said that they have been training hard under the mentorship of Relebohile Motjamela since returning from Kenya where they competed in the 2021 African Senior Men and Women Gold Olympic Weightlifting Qualification Championships in May.

They however, failed to qualify for Tokyo Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan in July.

Additionally, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) will on December 20 until 21 hold its elective congress in Tashkent, Uzbekistan where the new leadership of the global weightlifting body will be roped-in.

Shale said the nomination time elapsed a long time ago, adding that federations are allowed to send through their nominees via the email and post services.

“We were only given a week to submit the names of our nominees but we couldn’t do so. It was too much of a problem. So we are going there to vote in December. Lesotho is eligible to vote as a full member of the IWF,” she added.

According to the IWF 2021 electoral congress agenda, there will be presentations and approval of the annual report and approval of the audited financial accounts among other items to be discussed as per the IWF constitution.

The congress will also deal with the presentation and approval of any reports submitted by any IWF Commission and any IWF Committee.

All Executive Board Members will be elected.

The IWF is currently under the leadership of Dr Michael Irani from India who is acting as the Interim President.

Dr Irani is the former Chairman of the anti-doping Commission of IWF and a former member of the IWF Medical Committee.