NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh weightlifters Denis Ulanov and Ilya Ilyin won gold and silver medals, respectively, at the June 7-9, 2019 British International Open weight-lifting tournament at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The tournament is a qualifier for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Denis Ulanov. Photo credit: olympic.kz.
Ulanov, a bronze medallist at the 2016 Olympics, competed in the weight category up to 81 kilogrammes and Ilyin, the four-time world champion, in 96 kilogrammes.
Ulanov won gold with a score of 325 kilogrammes combined from 145 kilogrammes in the snatch and 180 kilogrammes in the jerk. His closest rival from the United Kingdom’s team finished the tournament with 304 kilogrammes.
Ilya Ilyin. Photo credit: sports.kz.
Ilyin won a silver medal reaching 165 kilogrammes in the snatch and 185 kilogrammes in the push (in sum 350). Ukrainian weightlifter Kirill Pirogov won the gold medal, beating Ilyin by one kilogramme with the result of 351 kilogrammes. The bronze medallist of the tournament was British weightlifter Edmond Avetisyan, who reached 329 kilogrammes.
“I have not participated (in tournaments) for several years, [and now had] three months of active training. I started to get in shape. I began to feel my strength that I had before… Many problems, shortcomings, because for a long time I was not on the global arena, these shortcomings affected the third attempt… Also, I didn’t feel the (sports) platform for a long time, for several years, and, therefore, I missed it, I couldn’t get to the end a little bit of a second. But this is nothing terrible – this is sports, these are competitions. I am inspired by the support of the entire country, my team, family, and the First President of Kazakhstan,” said Ilyin.
The open competition consisted of several competitions, including the British Senior Weightlifting Championships, British Para Powerlifting Championship, BWL British Masters Championships and the British Development Open.
