A generous number of Maltese lifters competed in the WDFPF World Powerlifting Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. The team consisted of 10 lifters in total namely Nathalie Agius, Ryan Agius, Luke Bonanno, Dylan Callus, Alwyn Cassar, Cleaven Cutajar, Maria Debono, Daniel Debono, Charles Degiorgio, Shawn Farrugia. This team representing Malta did very well, so much so that Malta placed third overall and beated nations such as America, France, Belgium and Moldova, amongst others. This was the second time Malta came third during an international powerlifting competition. First place was won by Great Britain and second place Italy.
The competition was spread over two days: Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th November. On Saturday all female lifters and male lifters up to 75kg started off the competition. Weighing at 52.8kg, Maria Debono with an easy 95kg squat opener, went on to a 102.5kg and failed her third attempt of 107.5kg due to the bar dipping on the way up. Even though it was a grinder, Debono will surely register this number in her next competition. Onto the bench, Debono pressed a third successful attempt of 65kg, which is both a personal best and a national record for the -53kg category. Debono also registered a 125kg deadlift. Debono managed to get second place in the -53kg category and came third in her platform out of 15 foreign lifters.
This was the second international competition for Nathalie Agius, after having competed in the European Championships in King's Lynn this year. Agius bettered her overall total having registered a 92.5kg squat on the second attempt, a 55kg bench press and a 105kg deadlift. Agius upped her malone points which means she bettered her position in the national rankings and she is now in fact in the premier division.
Luke Bonanno competed in the -67.5kg category. This was the first international competition abroad for Bonanno after having competed in the World Squat Single Lifts in Malta last June. At just 16 years of age, Bonanno managed a 150kg squat, 100kg bench press and a 167.5kg deadlift. All these lifts along with the total are national records for the Teenager 2 age category.
Charles Degiorgio weighed at a lean bodyweight of 71kg. He started off his first squat attempt with 200kg, after which he squatted 210kg but was unfortunately red lighted due to depth. Degiorgio went on to bench 120kg and finished off with a 240kg deadlift. Degiorgio got third place in the -75kg category out of 12 lifters.
The -75kg category had two Maltese lifters competing. Shawn Farrugia, who came 4th after Degiorgio, did not have the day he planned. He managed to squat 180kg, bench pressed 145kg and pulled a 215kg deadlift. Nonetheless, Farrugia never bench pressed 145kg while weighing at 71.7kg bodyweight. It's also good to note that this was the first international competition that Farrugia has ever competed in.
On Sunday Alwyn Cassar along with four other lifters competed. Cassar competed in the -100kg category and started off his first international competition by registering an easy 170kg squat. The 17 year old bench pressed a personal and national record of 110kg and pulled 192.5kg deadlift. Given that Cassar had an injury 3 weeks before competition this was nonetheless an outstanding performance at such a young age. Cassar will surely come back with vengeance in his next competition.
Another first timer was Daniel Debono who competed in the -82.5kg open category. Even though this wasn't Debono's best performance he still achieved a good total through a 175kg squat, 120kg bench press and a 192.5kg pull. Debono failed a 200kg deadlift on his 3rd attempt due to hitching, which means that he will get this number in no time!
During the past few months Ryan Agius dieted down to the -90kg open category and achieved better numbers at a lower body weight. Agius registered a 217.5kg squat, 135kg bench press, and 255kg pull. This brings a total of 607.5kg which meant that Agius bettered his position in the national rankings as his total automatically gave him greater schwartz points. Agius failed a 265kg deadlift due to a technicality, however he was still strong enough to rip it off the floor and lock it. All the numbers registered by Agius were all personal records. The question is: will we be seeing Agius in the -90kg category or will he take up the challenge and see him in lighter categories?
Cleaven Cutajar weighed at 129.8kg bodyweight which means he competed in the -145kg open category. Even though this wasn't his best performance he still managed good numbers. Cutajar squatted 220kg and got red lighted for depth on his 2nd attempt of 235kg. He tried the 235kg again for a third attempt, however it wasn't in him. Cutajar went on to press 150kg and narrowly failed the 160kg on the 2nd and 3rd attempts. Despite these shortcomings, Cutajar did have a good performance in the deadlift, where he registered lifts of 240kg, 260kg and 270kg.
One paragraph is not even enough to describe Dylan Callus' performance, so do excuse us for having to write a chunky one for this lifter. Callus competed in the -125kg junior category. He started off with a fairly easy 250.5kg squat which was already a European record in the his age category. He went on to break his own record on the second and third attempt with 265kg and 272.5kg respectively. He did not go for a fourth attempt as he wanted to preserve energy for the bench and deadlift. Callus started off with a shaky start in the bench press due a technicality. He repeated the same weight of 170kg for his second attempt, and went on for the world record of 181.5kg. After having a successful third attempt, he proceeded with a fourth attempt, again breaking his own record with 185kg world record bench press. Callus was hungry for more records come deadlifts. He started with a conservative 300kg attempt, went on to break the European record with 320.5kg and a third attempt of 330kg. Callus wanted to give it his all and tried a 338kg world record deadlift as a fourth attempt. He very narrowly failed at lock out but he was only given three minute rest between this attempt and his third one. Callus registered the biggest total of the 160 lifters present in the competition and also the biggest total in the history of Maltese powerlifting with a huge 782.5kg. This total gave a fourth place to Callus from the 160 lifters present on both days. Callus bettered his schwartz points and he now has a whopping 410 points. Callus also came first in both the Junior and Open -125kg Category.
The Malta Drug-Free Powerlifting Association would like to congratulate all the lifters who represented Malta for achieving such great results. We would also like to announce to the public that our next and final competition for the year is our very first National Single Lift Event happening on the 2nd December at the Birgu Youth Centre (next to the police station). Families and friends are encouraged to come and support for free, while anyone interested to compete in the Single Event is more than encouraged to contact us and register his/her name on facebook or by sending an email on [email protected].