Romania will be represented by two athletes, Cosmina Adriana Pana (cat. 49 kg) and Tiberiu Ionut Donose (cat. 73 kg), at the World Weightlifting Championships, scheduled between December 6-15, in Manama (Bahrain).
The chairman of the Romanian Weightlifting Federation, Alexandru Padure, declared for AGERPRES that at this edition of the World Championships, Romania does not have a medal objective.
"We did not set a medal goal for this competition, not having a complete team and also taking into account the number of international and continental competitions held after the Olympic Games, but we hope for important rankings that will give confidence to the two athletes and mobilize them for to successfully tackle the Olympic qualification campaign for Los Angeles 2028," he said.
The chairman explained the absence from Romania's team of two of the most valuable sportswomen, Mihaela Cambei, silver medalist at the Paris Olympics, and Loredana Toma, world champion in 2017 and 2022.
"We had discussions in Paris regarding the international competitions in which we will participate with Mihaela Cambei and even with Loredana Toma, and the decision was to focus on their recovery and recovery in the perspective of the European Senior Championships in Chisinau, from April 2025," Padure mentioned.
One day before the opening ceremony of the World Championships, the Congress of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) took place in Manama. Among the most important measures adopted was the updating of the weight categories for international competitions. The number of categories was reduced from 10 for men and 10 for women, to 8 for each gender, to be established between these and the Olympic categories, which will be in the program of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The intention is to increase the number of Olympic trials from 5, as they were in Paris, to 6 for each gender or even 7, as in the edition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The new categories will be implemented starting from June 1, 2025, following which the continental forum will also align with them.
The new weight categories are: female - 48 kg, 53 kg, 58 kg, 63 kg, 69 kg, 77 kg, 86 kg, +86 kg; male - 60 kg, 65 kg, 71 kg, 79 kg, 88 kg, 98 kg, 110 kg, +110 kg.
"There are weight categories approachable, in general, by our athletes, with the mention that we are disadvantaged by the lack of a men's weight category, under 60 kg. But we will have to find solutions to adapt to the new regulation," added Alexandru Padure.
Romania is participating with two athletes at the Senior World Championships in Manama. The competition takes place between December 6-15 and brings together 473 female and male athletes from 92 countries on five continents.
Athletes Cosmina Adriana Pana and Tiberiu Ionut Donose will compete in Manama on December 7 and 9, respectively, in the 49 kg and 73 kg categories, respectively.
At the previous edition of the World Weightlifting Championships, held in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Romania participated with 8 athletes, succeeding in winning a bronze medal through Mihaela Cambei in the deadlift (cat. 49 kg).A
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