New records at Guyana powerlifting championships

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - The 2008 Guyana Amateur Power Lifting

Federation/Claude Charles Memorial Junior, Intermediate and Masters

Championships came off with a bang at the National Gymnasium where a

number of records were rewritten.

bhojkumar jagnarine

Wazeem Immamdeen, the lone competitor in the 52kg (114lbs) category, turned

in a sizzling display to capture both the Junior and Intermediate overall titles,

and also set a new Deal Lift (DL) Record of 424 ¼ lbs, erasing the old mark of

402 ¼ which was set by E. Tappin back in 2006.

Immamdeen went on to achieve a best in the Dead Lift of 475¾. His best in the

Bench Press was 209¼ while his best squat was 358 for an overall total of 1043

lbs.

john edwards squatting

The other overall champion on the day was John Edwards who ruled the roost in

the Masters Division, competing in the 125kg 275 lbs class.  

Edwards, just back from dominating regional and international counterparts at

the North American Championships, recorded a best squat of 721¾, 475¾ Bench

Press after failing at 512½ in an attempt to erase his own record mark of 507 set

last year at Critchlow Labor College.   His best BP attempt was 650¼ for an

overall tally of 1847 ¾ lbs.

In another breathtaking record breaking performance, Vijai Rahim with a

bodyweight of 114 lbs (51.8kg) was the only 52kg (114 lbs) athlete and broke

the DL record with all 3 attempts he had.

vijai rahim

His first attempt saw him lifting 358, which replaced the old mark of 352½ set by

Boodram Singh 2 years ago. His 2nd attempt was another record (374¾) as was

the 3rd, 402¼, a crowd pleasing display.

For his last attempt, Rahim, who won his category at the Junior and Intermediate

levels and placed 3rd overall in both competitions, had to pull out all the stops to

bring the weights to the desired position in order to make the lift count, and he

was urged on by the small but vociferous crowd. His overall total was 859.5,

made up of his DL total, squat of 303 and BP of 154¼.

wasim immamdeen

While not competing at these championships, Mervin ‘Spongy’ Moses attempted

a few record attempts of his own and was successful with setting a new squat

record of 683¼, knocking out his old mark of 677¼ achieved at last year’s

Seniors.

Moses’ new BP mark of 374¾ also knocked out his old achievement of 363¾ also

set last year. He failed twice to set a new DL record at 611¾ but Bhojkumar

Jagnarine was able to achieve the honour of shattering the old mark by

successfully lifting the 611¾. The old mark of 606 was achieved by Winston

Stoby in 2006.

What makes Jagnarine’s feat more commendable is the fact that he did so even

after his three attempts which were all good at 551, 584 and 584.  Jagnarine,

competing in the veteran category was the only athlete on the day competing

against another and he won a straight fight against Winston Stoby in the 75kg

(165lbs) class. They also finished 2nd  and 3rd overall to Edwards.            

His overall score was 1399½ (squat 551 & BP 264½) to Stoby’s 1361 (squat

545½, BP 248 & DL 567½).

mervin moses squat record

Another senior athlete, Dwayne Ferdinand (110 kg / 242 lbs) also attempted to

add his name to the record books but failed to break John Edwards’ BP record

set back in 1998.

Other winners on the day in the junior category were Paul Adams (67.5kg

/148.5lbs), squat 451¾, BP 253½ & DL 435¼.

Anis Ade Thomas (82.5kg/181.5lbs), squat 440¾, BP 665¼ & DL 567¼. Julio

Sinclair (110kg/242lbs), squat 540, BP 341¼ & DL 540.

Intermediates, Kelvin Lewis (     67.5kg/148lbs) squat 475¾, BP 220¼, and DL

446¼. Rahim, Immamdeen, Ade Thomas and Sinclair also won at this level while

Osbourne was disqualified for not completing all the required lifts.

In the Veterans category were Errol Henry (82.5kg/181.5lbs) squat 507, BP

275¾, DL 529, and Gordon Spencer (90kg/198lbs), squat 475¾, BP 203¾, DL

446¼.

The winners and overall champions were all rewarded with trophies with Minister

of Culture Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony assisting with the presentation of

prizes. Dr. Anthony also took the opportunity to speak with the athletes,

congratulating them for sterling performances.

International renowned Bodybuilder and former power lifter Hugh Ross was on

hand to declare the championships open.  

He noted that he was very happy that the FAPLF saw it fit to name the

championships after the late great Claude Charles who made a great impact on

the development of the sport in Guyana.

He also told the gathering that Charles made a great impact on his life and more

so, his power-lifting career which paved the way for his successful achievements

on the bodybuilding stage.  (By-: Franklin Wilson)