Rahman proves he is world's strongest Paralympian

In securing Nigeria’s fifth gold of the Championships in the women’s -86kg, Precious Orji had the crowd in joyous raptures and ensured her country topped the Dubai medals table.

Iran’s Siamand Rahman broke the world record three times on the final day of the IPC Powerlifting World Championships on Friday (11 April) to cement his position as the strongest athlete in para-sport.

An electric atmosphere greeted lifters for the men’s +107kg, the final event of the seven day Championship, as London 2012 champion Rahmam went head-to-head with his teammate and world record holder Mansour Pourmirzaei.

Victory for Rahman never looked in doubt as he lifted 275kg in the first round - 1 kg less than the world record – whilst Pourmirzaei could only manage 255kg.

In the second round Pourmirzaei closed the gap slightly lifting 265kg. However, Rahman was unfazed as he lifted 281kg to put his name in the record books.

By the third round it was just a question of how much Rahman would lift, especially after Pourmirzaei failed with an attempt at 275kg.

With the crowd urging him on, Rahman appeared to break sweat for the first time as he lifted the bar to 285kg.

To underline his dominance, minutes later he returned to the bench for a fourth time with a big grin across his face to lift 285.5kg, 9.5kg more than the world record at the start of the day.

The bronze medal went to experienced Iraqi Faris Al-Ajeeli (240kg) with three good lifts.

Meysam Motaghian (175kg) showed the future is bright for Iranian powerlifting taking the junior world title.

The men’s -107kg was also a thriller with Greece’s Pavlos Mamalos breaking the world record twice to add the world title to the bronze medal he won at London 2012. His final round lift of 240kg was 6.5kg than the world record at the start of the day which had been set in January.

Iran’s Ali Sadeghzadehsalmani (231kg) took silver just ahead of Azerbaijani Elshan Huseynov (230kg), who only needed one good lift to take the bronze.

The junior title went to 18-year-old Iranian Mahdi Sayadi (167kg) with the teenager breaking his own junior world record three times on his way to gold.

In securing Nigeria’s fifth gold of the Championships in the women’s +86kg, Precious Orji had the crowd in joyous raptures and ensured her country topped the Dubai medals table.

Orji, broke her own world record three times, eventually lifting 151kg, 9kg more than her previous best set 14 months ago. Victory was almost certain for the 34-year-old after the first round because eventual silver medallist Nadia Ali (135kg) injured herself during her unsuccessful second round attempt.

Melaica Tuinfort (113kg) picked up the Netherlands’ first medal of the week with bronze.

The 2014 IPC Powerlifting World Championships have featured over 330 athletes from nearly 60 countries and were the first opportunity for athletes to begin qualification for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The competition also featured the climax to the "Raise the Bar campaign," which has seen powerlifters and team officials take part in education seminars as part of efforts to reduce doping in the sport.

For more information about the 2014 IPC Powerlifting World Championships, please visit the Dubai 2014 microsite.