Three weightlifters for Asian Continental Meet

By: Susil Premalal

Colombo, Jan. 31 (Daily Mirror) - Sri Lanka will field a three-member squad for the Asian Weightlifting Continental Championship, which will be held from February 3 to 10 at the Yunusabad Sports Complex in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The event is conducted by the Asian Weightlifting Federation and all three Sri Lankan weightlifters are hoping to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games later this year.

Over 100 competitors are set to participate in this championship. Two international-level weightlifters Hansani Gomes (49kg) and Chathurika Priyanthi (87kg) will compete in the Women’s category while Indika Dissanayaka (73kg) will participate in the Men’s category, National Coach R. B. Wickramasinghe revealed.

The Asian Weightlifting Continental Championship is the penultimate qualifying event for the Paris Olympic Games and the final qualifying event will be the IWF World Cup from March 31 to April 11 in Phuket, Thailand.

Coach Wickramasinghe believes that Sri Lanka will be able to field at least three weightlifters for the Paris Olympic Games.