Records at Malta Open

A series of new national records were established during the Malta Open Championships, organised by the Malta Weightlifting Association at the Cottonera Sports Complex earlier this month.

The event, staged with the assistance of Kunsill Malti għall-Isport and sponsors Paparukei, saw the participation of various lifters with encouraging entries in all categories starting from the cadets where Rylee Borg left a good im-pression to win the major honours.

Young Kirsten Coleiro also did well in the U-13 competition, lifting 16kgs in snatch and 25kgs in the clean and jerk.

The third event in the programme was for female youths and the winner was Nicole Gatt with 79kgs.

The lifts gained Gatt 127 points. She was followed in second place by Destiny Vella Busuttil, who lifted 82kgs for a total of 109 points.

Seven national records were broken by Gatt in the 44kgs category, three in the youths section, another three in the juniors and one in the seniors.

The men’s Malta Open was fiercely contested. In the end, Noel Coleiro emerged victor with a total of 233kgs and 272 points.

Clint Grech was second behind Coleiro. He had to stay alert until his very last lift not to be overtaken by Rodmar Pulis.

Grech lifted a total of 197kgs for 263 points. Pulis, 16, finished with a creditable tally of 259 points and 206kgs, an additional 11kgs on his previous best total.

During the Malta Open, Pulis succeeded in establishing no fewer than 10 national records in the 77kgs category. Five of the records were in the youths section and the other five in the juniors.

Meanwhile, Matthew Muscat Inglott also provided a good challenge, completing his perfor-mance with a total lift of 222kgs and 252 points. He was followed by Kristian Mintoff – 190kgs and 219 points.