Paralympics

BEIJING: National powerlifter P. Mariappan renewed his Asean record in the men’s 67.5kg category at the Beijing Paralympics here yesterday.

In the competition held at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautic’s gymnasium, Mariappan, 50, lifted 180kgs to erase his old mark of 172.5kg which he set at the Athens Paralympics of 2004.

However, despite the outstanding performance he only managed to finish eighth out of 13 competitors.

“I consider it a good result as our preparation was only for six months unlike the other competitors who trained for years,” he told Bernama after the event.

The gold was won by Egypt’s Mathna Metwaly Ibrahim who lifted 217.5kg which was a new Games record.

Ali Hosseini of Iran had to contend with second place after lifting 215kg while China’s Wu Maoshun’s lift of 200kg earned him the bronze.

Mariappan has represented the country in five Paralympiads: Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) with his best efforts being at Barcelona and Seoul where he won the bronze.

— Bernama