Hainan training stint for Amirul

KUALA LUMPUR: Weightlifter Amirul Hamizan Ibrahim has gone for a six-week training stint in Hainan, China to prepare for the Beijing Olympics.

Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) secretary Lt-Cdr Mohd Suhaimi Kassim said that training in China has helped Amirul qualify the Olympics.

Up and away: The six-week stint in China is to help Amirul prepare for the Beijing Olympics.

“And we hope with six weeks of training he will improve on his personal best and also qualify for the final.

“He is currently ranked 12th in the world in the below 56kg category and we hope he can finish among the top 10 in the Olympics,” said Suhaimi.

Suhaimi added that Amirul would not compete in any competition prior to the Olympics but would be training with some of the top Asian weightlifters in Hainan.

“Although this will be his first outing in the Olympics we want him to give his best,” said Suhaimi.

The 27-year-old Kuala Rompin lifter qualified after finishing fourth overall in the men’s below 56kg category at the Asian Olympic qualifying championships in Kanazawa, Japan in May.

He qualified under Category A after being ranked 12th in the world based on his achievement in Japan. The top 15 qualify under category A.

Amirul, who is trained by coaches Lin Xin Hiu and Zakaria Yusof, bagged the silver in the snatch event in Japan and broke his own national record with a lift of 121kg – a 4kg improvement on his previous record set in Malacca in 2002.

In the clean and jerk, he finished fourth with a lift of 141kg. He also finished overall fourth with a total lift of 262kg.

Winning the silver in Asia was his best achievement although he bagged three gold medals at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

The Star