By Emmerson Campbell
“I under stand that Stoby’s next outing will be the Pan Am Games and we at the ministry will give him full sponsorship.”
So said Minister of Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony at his ministry during a courtesy call by World Masters 74kgs Masters Two gold medalist and World deadlift record holder Winston ‘Little Master’ Stoby.
Stoby returned to Guyana on Thursday after he smashed the world deadlift record en route to lifting Guyana’s first World powerlifting title at the World Master’s Championships in Killen, Texas where the World Master’s Championships was staged.
The 53-year-old created history when he squatted, bench pressed and deadlifted his way to the World title while reclaiming his World deadlift record which was recently broken by an Ukrainian.
Dr. Anthony noted that feats such as Stoby’s were helping Guyana to “break new territory,” in the world of sport.
“Stoby has done Guyana proud. I am very pleased that he brought us fame and recognition in powerlifting when people think of us in Guyana they would think cricket and boxing but we are breaking new territory in the World.
“Winston has put us in the World’s spotlight getting all those eyes on us and for that and many more things, we would like to sincerely extend our congratulations to him because he has done us all proud and as Guyanese we feel proud about his achievements. We expect that he will defend his title and go on to win many more,” Dr. Anthony declared.
He added that he has seen the sport grow with many young power lifting stars emerging such as Randolph Morgan, Vijai Rahim, Anis Ade Thomas and Dawn Barker. Stoby set a new deadlift record of 272 kilogrammes erasing the old record of 267.5 kilogrammes.
He also squatted 255kgs and bench pressed 140kgs.
The Little Master’s total of 667.5kgs was some 52kgs more than second place finisher Koichi Taniguchi of Japan (615kgs). USA’s Mark Sigala copped the bronze medal with a total of 610kgs.
He also lifted individual gold medals for the squat and the deadlift as well as an individual bronze medal in the bench press.
Taniguchi (162.5kgs) and Sigala (147.5kgs) bench pressed more than Stoby.
A goldsmith by profession, Stoby has won gold medals at the Pan Am, CAC and Caribbean Championships and seems to have somewhat of a Midas touch experiencing an exceptional year thus far, winning multiple gold medals to add to his illustrious career.
‘The Little Master’ who must surely be in contention for Sportsman of the Year, thanked Guyana’s world renowned bodybuilder, former Mr. Universe Masters champion, Hugh Ross, his manager and coaches for playing instrumental roles in his mental and physical preparation and mentioned that winning the World title was his dream which came true.
The Pan Am Games will be staged in Orlando, Florida on July 1 to 7 next year.
