Sport England funding to support para powerlifting at Commonwealths
Sport England has awarded British Weight Lifting £117,000 in funding to support the provision of both weightlifting and para powerlifting teams at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The funding, which is in addition to the £2.2m awarded to British Weight Lifting as part of Sport England’s announcement made at the end of last year, will support:
- The attendance of English lifters at International Weightlifting Federation competitions; the Commonwealth Games Federation qualification process requires lifters to achieve a performance at an IWF event that can be used in a Commonwealth Games ranking list;
- An increased number of Commonwealth Games squad meetings and training camps to support final stage preparation and individual athlete planning;
- The costs associated with sending a team and its support staff to the Games, which takes place on the Gold Coast, Australia, to include travel and accommodation.
Team England will go into next year’s competition with a target of four weightlifting and two para powerlifting medals; a target boosted by the team’s performance at Glasgow 2014.
In what was the most successful Games for the team since 2002, England won two weightlifting medals (Zoe Smith – Gold, Ben Watson – Bronze) and two para powerlifting medals (Natalie Blake – silver, Ali Jawad – bronze). The team also achieved four fourth place and three fifth place finishes and set two Commonwealth Games records.
The Commonwealth Games remains a vital part of the British Weight Lifting competition pathway. It provides lifters within the weightlifting and para powerlifting Performance Programmes with international competition experience, a platform to develop talent and in some instances, the chance to succeed at World, Olympic and Paralympic level.
Commenting on the funding award, Ashley Metcalfe, British Weight Lifting CEO, said:
“The British Weight Lifting talent strategy has a mission to create an environment and culture which supports and provides opportunities to enable lifters to continuously develop, and funding remains a critical factor to this.
“Our competition pathway is essential to lifter development, so to be able to provide our English lifters with the opportunity to go to the Gold Coast and build on the success of the team in Glasgow is something that we are delighted to be able to do.
“For English lifters, the Commonwealth Games has always been a key event and our elite lifters will be working hard over the next 14 months to best prepare themselves for team selection; weightlifting has such a strong history at the Games and continues to offer lifters fantastic opportunities for development and the chance to fulfil their ambitions in the sport.”
English lifters will have the opportunity to boost their Commonwealth Games rankings in July at the British Senior Championships, the UK-based ranking event for Games qualification.
