Malta’s leading female weightlifters, Yazmin Zammit Stevens and Elisia Scicluna , took part in the Italian National Championships held in Rome, last weekend.

Both Zammit Stevens and Scicluna are currently preparing for their upcoming major appointments, in particular the Commonwealth Games and the Mediterranean Games among other tournaments and championships in between.

The athletes were accompanied by national team coach and president of the Malta Weightlifting Associaiton, Jesmond Caruana, who also presented medals as an honorary guest at the meet.

Zammit Stevens (69kg) was the first to take on the platform in what was one of the toughest competitions. She finished with an 80kg snatch on her second attempt, missing out on 83kg on her third. Afterwards, she went to lift a 98kg clean and jerk on her last attempt, after closely missing her first two attempts.

This result is only 2kg under her best ever performance back in November, were she has since been recovering from an injury. Her display showed that she is on the right track in her preparations ahead of the Commonwealth Games, which is due in six weeks time.

Scicluna (+75kg) also had a respectable performance on the day. She finished with a 75kg snatch and 94kg clean and jerk, breaking one national record in the process. She also managed to finish third in her group, with a total of 169kg matching her best ever performance, recorded in Malta Championships just four weeks ago.