Othman obliterates world record three times in Dubai

Egypt’s Sherif Othman, competing in his first major international competition since moving up to the men’s -59kg weight class, smashed the world record three times this week (15-18 March) at the 6th FAZZA IPC Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai, UAE.

The 32-year-old two-time Paralympic champion previously competed in the up to 54kg and only made the transition this year to the higher weight category making an instant impact.

Lifting 195kg with his first effort, Othman added 1kg to the previous world record set by Great Britain’s Ali Jawad at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games last August.

If his second round lift of 200kg was impressive, his third effort of 210kg – more than three and a half times his bodyweight - was unbelievable.

Unsurprisingly Othman easily secured gold finishing 40kg ahead of his nearest rival Thailand’s Kasanun Narong (170kg). The Egyptian did however fail with a fourth round attempt at 215kg.

Around 100 lifters from 24 countries took part in the World Cup in Dubai which was dominated by Egyptian lifters who won 13 of the 20 titles up for grabs.

This included Mohamed Eldib in the -97kg class who, with his third round lift of 241kg, added 1kg to his own two-year-old world record.

On the men’s side the other Egyptian winners were Taha Abelmagid (172kg) in the -54kg class, Metwaly Mathana (193kg) in the -80kg and Hany Abdelhady (220kg) in the -88kg.

Mohamed Elelfat (218kg) won the men’s -72kg class but failed with a third round attempt of 221kg which would have set a new world record. Likewise, Zeinab Oteify (97kg) also claimed victory in the women’s -45kg, but was not successful with her world record attempt at 100kg.

In the women’s events Egyptian winners there included Nawal Ramadan (94kg) in the -41kg, Rehab Ahmed (106kg) in the -55kg, Amal Mahmoud (122kg) in the -67kg, Geehan Hassan (122kg) in the -79kg, Randa Mahmoud (130kg) in the -86kg and Nadia Ali (135kg) in the over 86kg.

Non-Egyptian winners on the women’s side included Ukraine’s Lidiia Soloviova (102kg) in the -50kg, Poland’s Kamila Malgotzata (103kg) in the -61kg and France’s Souhad Ghazouani (130kg) in the -73kg.

Jordan’s Omar Qarada (172kg) in the -49kg, Iraq’s Rasool Mohsin (205kg) in the -65kg, and UAE’s Alblooshi Khamis Ahmed (202kg) in the over 107kg were the remaining victors on the men’s side. Azerbaijan’s Huseynov Elshan failed in his world record attempt of 241kg in the -107kg and finished first with a lift of 235kg.

The next major event is the IPC Powerlifting Open Americas Championships between 26-29 April.