Maltese lifter wins bronze

After topping the middleweight division at the Yorkshire and Northeast counties unequipped Powerlifting championships last April with a total of 535kgs, Malta's Matthew Muscat Inglott was one of eight lifters from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to qualify for the National Championship finals last week.

In his first ever competition at this level and after four months of hard preparation following his win in Yorkshire, Muscat Inglott maintained his focus, fending off some fierce competition from some of the strongest middleweights in Britain.

After the squat and bench press events, Muscat Inglott was in a good position to challenge for a placing in the top three. However after sustaining an abdominal injury in his first attempt in the final event (the deadlift), this looked doubtful.

Nevertheless, Muscat Inglott opted to remain in the competition and fought his way through his final two successful attempts at 225kgs and 227.5kgs respectively. His total of 547.5kgs narrowly secured him a hard-earned bronze medal and third place for Yorkshire and the Northeast.

Second place went to Maxwell Herd. Representing Greater London, Herd registered a 565kgs total after only narrowly missing out on breaking his national bench press record.

The 2007 British middleweight Championship title went to the immensely powerful Steve Gates representing the East Midlands. Gates lifted an exceptional total of 590kgs and kept the crowd entertained with some of his trademark Spartan-like pre-lift antics.

Muscat Inglott was sponsored in this venture by the Preluna Hotel and Spa in Sliema, with full backing from Andrea Preca and Tony Camilleri. He will be refereeing at the 2007 Feelgood Spa Cup to be held next Saturday at the Preluna Hotel.

More details about Maltese Powerlifting and the upcoming competition at the Preluna Hotel can be found at http://maltapowerlifting.blogspot.com.