Indonesia will send 12 athletes for the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships, which will be held in Bogota, Colombia, from December 5–16, the Indonesian weightlifting team’s manager, Pura Darmawan, told ANTARA here on Friday.

The 2022 World Weightlifting Championships will be the first qualification tournament for the lifters to gather points for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 12 lifters who will be sent to Colombia comprise those who have made an appearance at the World Weightlifting Championships and those who will make their debut, Darmawan informed.

Senior lifter Eko Yuli Irawan will compete for the tenth time at the competition.

After missing the previous edition, the 33-year-old lifter will compete in the men’s 61-kg class along with his arch-rival, China’s Li Fabin, this year.

Besides Irawan, the Indonesian Weightlifting Association’s executive board (PABSI) will also send Ricko Saputra (61 kg), Rizki Juniansyah (73 kg), Rahmat Erwin Abdullah (73 kg), and Muhammad Zul Ilmi (89 kg) for the competition.

Meanwhile, the women’s team will comprise Windy Cantika Aisah (49 kg), Juliana Klarisa (55 kg), Natasya Beteyob (59 kg), Nelly (59 kg), Tsabitha Alfiah Ramadani (71 kg), Restu Anggi (71 kg), and Nurul Akmal (+87 kg).

At the 2021 Weightlifting World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Rahmat Erwin Abdullah managed to bag one gold medal for Indonesia in the 73-kg category.

The 2022 Weightlifting World Championships in Bogota, which will be the premiere qualification event for the 2024 Paris Olympics, will feature 10 men’s and 10 women’s classes.

However, at the Paris Olympics, the weightlifting branch will only feature five classes for men and women each, fewer than at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where lifters competed in seven classes.

In the men’s category, the Olympics will feature the 61-kg, 73-kg, 89-kg, 102-kg, and +102-kg classes.

Meanwhile, the women’s competition will have the 49-kg, 59-kg, 71-kg, 81-kg, and +81-kg classes.

Source: Antara News