Russian Weightlifting Men’s team to make every effort at the 2018 Ashgabat IWF Championships
The Russian men’s team will do its best at the World Weightlifting Championships in Ashgabat, said Oleg Pisarevsky, head coach of the team. According to him, four to five athletes are aimed to be among prize-winners. The coach’s optimism is based on the fact that most athletes have seriously improved their abilities after Russian championship, which took place in early September this year. Pisarevsky also noted that the athletes are looking forward for international competitions and focused on high results, because they missed the 2017 World Championships in Anaheim, US, due to suspension of the Russian Weightlifting Federation from international competitions for a year by the International Weightlifting Federation. Ruslan Albegov, competing in the +109 kg category, the bronze winner at the 2012 Summer Olympics, two-time World Champion, is the most titled athlete of the team. Russian weightlifting team also comprise of Felix Halibekov (up to 67 kg), Sergey Petrov (73), Victor Getz (81) , Razmik Unanyan (81), Artem Okulov (89), Georgy Sidakov (89), Yegor Klimonov (96), Maxim Sheyko (102) and Rodion Bochkov (109). For the first time, the World Weightlifting Championships will be held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on November 1-10, 2018. Applications from 100 countries (9 states of Africa, 38 European countries, 29 Asian countries, 15 American and 9 Oceania countries) for participation in the competitions are submitted. Thus, about 800 foreign athletes are expected to arrive in Ashgabat. In general, 1,500 representatives of different countries, including referee teams, journalists, etc., will arrive in the Turkmen capital.
