The first ranking competition of the 2013 Malta Weightlifting Association season was held recently at the Cottonera Sports Complex.

While the national team members had a rest following their participation in the Mediterranean Cup in Brindisi the week before, the competition was an ideal opportunity for the younger lifters to take the limelight.

In the cadets division, Rylee Borg and Blake Vassallo both produced sound performances, with Borg emerging the better of the two with 116 points.

In the section for youths, Malcolm Camilleri started off his season in convincing fashion after breaking all three national records in the 50kg category, lifting 37kgs in the Snatch, 49kgs in Clean and Jerk for a total of 86kgs.

In the same category, Owen Bugeja had six successful lifts to finish with 136 points, just 25 behind Camilleri. Emersin Bugeja and Kieran Mifsud claimed the next two positions in the youth competition with 172 and 177 points respectively.

The juniors division saw an interesting match-up between twin brothers, Hayden and Joran Farrugia.

While both achieved the same total of 150kg, Hayden was the more successful of the two with 179 points as opposed to Joran’s 166 by virtue of lighter bodyweight calcu-lations.

The ranking event also had a competition for senior lifters.

Here, Charles Degior-gio obtained a winning tally of 240 points with successful lifts of 85kg Snatch and 105kg Clean and Jerk.

Second place went to Ryan Agius who totalled 182 points, his personal best score so far.