Africa-Press – Lesotho. Lesotho Weightlifting Federation (LWF) will visit weight
lifting clubs across all districts to assess the performance level of athletes
and coaches.
The move is an effort by the federation to know areas that
mostly need to be assisted with the sport going forward.
In an interview with LWF Public Relations Officer (PRO) Anna
Shale, Informative Sport learned that
the initiative is also intended to attract new athletes to weightlifting. “We decided
to offer training for our coaches at district level as to improve their
coaching skills. Having weightlifting specialists will influence our clubs at
the districts and thus more people may be interested to join,” said Shale.
She added that weightlifting techniques which include;
lifting an appropriate amount of weight, learning how to do exercises
correctly, seeking balance while holding the weight and controlling one’s
breath; these she said are the major factors that athletes should consider. “The
first visit will be to Mohale’s Hoek where we will be hosting the tournament at
Bohomme High School on September 11th, and we decided to simplify
the work by hosting one tournament where different clubs will show case the
performance level of their athletes,” she said.
Shale revealed that the association will host a similar
tournament at Quthing and Leribe on September 21st and 28th
respectively. She said these tournaments will also prepare athletes for
upcoming international games where Lesotho Weightlifting athletes will be
competing. “These are the World Youth Championship that is scheduled on the October
1st to 31st 2021 at Kingdom of South Arabia, Jeddah and
World Weightlifting Championships which will be hosted at Lima, Peru in
November 2021,” shale informed.
She went on to inform that the association has thus far
registered about eight clubs, four of which are based in Maseru. She said the
ongoing pandemic was one of the barrier that held LWF from hosting tournaments
frequently as compared to previous times, in addition to financial constraints.
Asked about what can be done to improve weightlifting, Shale
told Informative Sport; “Athletes
need to be exposed to constant international competitions for all categories –
both junior and senior players because the atmosphere at international and
continental competitions is more intimidating and motivating than here at
home”. She explained that when athletes compete at international and continental
tournaments, they improve their rankings and the rankings open for more
opportunities to qualify for Commonwealth games and Olympic games.
