The Irish Para Powerlifting Invitational Championships take place on Saturday 5th July in the Clayton Hotel, Dublin Airport.
The Championships will see 9 Irish Para Powerlifters compete, while there will also be 14 athletes from Great Britain, 7 from Moldova and 4 from Hungary. This World Para Powerlifting sanctioned competition, is a progression from the traditional Irish National Championships, that sees invitations extended to up to 6 other Para Powerlifting National Paralympic Committees.
Notable Irish competitors include Sean Hughes, Casey Fitzgerald and Niamh Buckley who are all aspiring towards the LA Paralympic Games in 2028.
The visiting nations also bring many highly ranked athletes, with many having won medals in Paralympic Games, as recent as last year’s Games in Paris.
From Team GB, Olivia Broome who won bronze at the Paris and Tokyo Paralympic Games will compete in the up to 50kg category. While silver medallist in Paris, Mark Swan will compete in the up to 65kg category. Louise Sugden has also had Paralympic success when she won bronze in the Tokyo 2020 Games in the up to 86kg category. Sugden has also represented Team GB in the 2008 and 20212 Games in Wheelchair Basketball too.
While from Moldova, Laris Marinenkova represented her nation in the Tokyo 2020 Games where she finished in 8th place in the up to 73kg category.
Speaking on the Irish Invitationals, IWA-Sport’s Director of Sport, Nicky Hamill said:
“We’re delighted to welcome the delegations to Dublin next month for what promises to be a great competition. Our founding Member Oliver Murphy competed in Para Powerlifting (or weightlifting, as it was known then), during our formative years in the 1960’s and its fantastic to see the sport thriving 65 years later with us now hosting such an important competition and so many top class athletes travelling to compete.
“There is a lot of great work being put into developing Irish Para Powerlifting by so many and this is the next step up for us in raising the standard and the profile of the sport. I’d like to wish all competitors a great competition and I’d also like to thank Paralympics Ireland for their continued support and investment in the sport.“
Further information:
The Irish Para Powerlifting Invitational Championships are free to attend, starting at 9:00am and concluding with the award ceremony at approximately 5:30pm. The competition will be streamed live via Irish Wheelchair Association’s YouTube Channel, where commentary will be provided by Will Downing.
