KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) expect the preparation of their lifters for the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand to be a tricky affair as they await official confirmation from the organising committee whether the categories will be retained or changed according to that stipulated by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
MWF president Datuk Ayub Rahmat said the decision (on category change) made at a meeting in Manama, Bahrain is only expected to be known early next year.
“We have not received confirmation from the (competitions) committee because the IWF, at its meeting in Manama recently, agreed to make changes in terms of categories.
“That is a challenge for us and the lifters… how we can adapt to the category changes. So, we have not received anything official on whether the Thailand SEA Games will use the old category or adopt the latest instruction on the category change set by IWF,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.
Meanwhile, Ayub hopes that national lifter Muhammad Aznil Bidin, who will turn 31 next year, can shine in the biennial Games.
Ayub said Muhammad Aznil, winner of two gold medals at the 2018 and 2022 editions of the Commonwealth Games, who switched from the 61-kilogramme (kg) category to the 67kg event early this year, would need to work harder and not become complacent.
“(Like in Bahrain yesterday) we cannot be satisfied because the winner from North Korea lifted 336kg while Aznil could only lift 208kg… that’s a 28kg difference.
“Although he (Aznil) defeated lifters from Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere, we do not know if these countries have better lifters who they might send to the Thailand SEA Games,” he said.
Muhammad Aznil, who competed in the 67kg category yesterday, broke his own record when he lifted 308kg at the 2024 World Weightlifting Championships in Manama, Bahrain, surpassing the 300kg he did at the 2024 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Suva, Fiji in September.
At the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games, Nur Syazwani Radzi was the only Malaysian lifter to win a medal when she clinched bronze in the women’s 64kg event.
-- BERNAMA
