Noble Gym Powerliting Challenge

Noble Gym at House of Grace in Sliema yesterday hosted the MDFPA for an exciting afternoon of test lifting ahead of the 2010 World Championships in Ireland next month.


90kg class lifter Cleaven Cutajar (above) made his competitive debut by competing solely in the Deadlift event. He lifted an impressive 190kgs only to have his third attempt at 205kgs turned down due to technicalities. With a little fine tuning this lifter could go a long way.


MDFPA President Nikolai Borg (above) made a token appearance by squatting 100kgs and benching 105kgs in the 75kg class, marking his comeback for 2011.


The most exciting newcomer of the day was the powerful 82.5kg class lifter Jovan Reljic (above). He chose to participate in the Bench Press only this time before attempting to compete for a full total. In his first ever appearance on the competitive platform he broke Matthew Muscat Inglott's three-year-old National Bench Press record in the 82.5kg class with a convincing 133kgs. No doubt Reljic will soon be challenging for a top spot on the rankings.


Charles Degiorgio (above) turned up for a practice run before he lifts in Ireland next month. He began with a 180kg squat and did not total after starting a little too heavy in the bench press to take any risks this close to the World Championships. He will be fine tuning his strategy over the coming weeks so he can nail a top class performance in Ireland. When this lifter gets it right, national records fall like rain.


In third place achieving a full total was the ferocious Josef Spiteri (above) from Fitness Planet. Lifting in the 90kg Category he squatted 180kgs, benched true to form with a 150kg bench press, and finished off with a 210kg deadlift and a 540kg total and 317.35 points. Spiteri will also be forming part of the Malta team in Ireland next month.


In second place was Herman Mula (above), who turned up determined to qualify for the World Chapionships and that's just what he did. He needed a 490kg total to qualify for the 82.5kg class, and posted 495kgs just to be sure. He squatted 170, benched 117.5, and deadlifted 207.5kgs for 317.69 points. He will now be joining team Malta in Ireland.


Marvin Cilia (above) took the competition overall in his usual good form. He squatted a picture perfect 230kgs in the 110kg class, benched 152.5kgs and deadlifted 232.5kgs for a final total of 615kgs for 334.74 points. He has his eye on Emanuel Schembri's National squat record of 241kgs and if he keeps lifting the way he is, he looks certain to break it soon.

Matthew Muscat Inglott, Adelia Saliba and Kris Mintoff refereed, and a big thanks goes out to Alexsandr Dolgopoyk and George Bonanno for spotting and loading throughout the competition.