Twenty-five, that is the number of national records that were broken when the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPLF) staged its National Senior Championships on Sunday at the St Stanislaus College auditorium.
Nangita Seenarine, lifting in the 52kg junior and open classes, broke eight on her own. Prodigious 17-year-old Romeo Hunter smashed five while Saif Abdool recorded four. Yogeshwar Seecharan had three, best lifter at the event, Fazim Abdool set two while Marlon Wilson raised the bar with a 93kg Master’s one deadlift record.
Seenarine, had a best squat of 125kg (275lbs), a best bench of 52.5kg (115 lbs) and a best deadlift of 132.5kg (292 lbs). They were all records for the two classes. Her total of 310kg (683 lbs) were also recorded as two records.
The 23-year-old standout of Total Fitness Gym told this newspaper yesterday that she was excited to compete and push herself on the platform but had no clue she would set eight national records.
She added that her aspirations for the upcoming season are to continue improving on the platform and perhaps earn a spot on the national team for international duties.
Hunter, arguably provided the highlight of the meet, breaking (unofficially) the world sub-junior bench press world record. Benching an eye popping 175kg,(385lbs) some 5kg above the world record, Hunter lifting in the 83kg sub junior and men’s open classes, set the foundation for a record breaking day by squatting 272.5kg (600lbs). Cramps in his left quad sustained while attempting his first deadlift, almost forced him to ‘bomb out’ but after sitting out his second deadlift, he returned to pull 220kg (485lbs) off the mat to record a total of 667.5kg (1471 lbs). On the warm Sunday afternoon, Hunter set two new open records in the squat and bench press and three new sub-junior records in the squat, bench press and total.
Abdool, lifting in the Men’s 120kg class, broke the open and masters’ one deadlift national records after pulling a mammoth 296kg (652 lbs) off the platform. His squat 310kg (682 lbs) and bench press 210kg (462 lbs) and subsequent total of 816kg (1795 lbs) enabled him to be rewarded with the coveted Best Lifter trophy. The other Abdool, Saif rewrote the record books after setting new marks in the squat 210kg (462 lbs), bench press 120kg (264 lbs), deadlift 210 (462lbs) and the total 540kg (1190 lbs) in the 93kg men’s sub-junior category.
The record breaking day, capped a banner year for the federation and its athletes.
Earlier in 2023, the GAPLF and its lifters had competed with distinction at three World Championships as well as the FESUPO Championships. The Federation also hosted the Novice, Intermediate, Masters, and Raw competitions.
Among the sponsors for Sunday’s event were the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport, National Sports Commission, Fitness Express, Office of the Prime Minister, and E-Master Corporation.
