Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1019972
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 29 AUGUST 2018 21 BODYBUILDING JUDO THE Weightlifting KTD Spartak tournament in Sub- otica Serbia this past week- end saw successful results from the Maltese team of three made up of Rodmar Pulis, Keith Azzopardi and Andy Borg. Pulis, who is currently pre- paring for the upcoming World University Champion- ships in Poland, finished with a 103kg snatch and closely missed his second and third attempt at 107kg. He then went on to clean and jerk 142kg in the second half of the competition. Despite this not being Rod- mar's best result in competi- tion, he showed improving strength and confidence on the international platform and will continue his ongoing training for the bigger plat- form in Poland. Junior athlete Andy Grech had an excellent showing as he finished with a 88kg snatch and 116kg clean and jerk. Another Junior lifter, Keith Azzopardi, who was a rookie on the international platform had a confident performance finish- ing with a personal best total as he lifted 85kg in the snatch and 104kg clean and jerk. The Maltese team finished in fourth place overall where they competed against athletes from Hungary, Slovakia, Po- land, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Romania, Uganda and the host country. Jesmond Caruana was accompanying the Maltese team, as he was giving semi- nars prior to the tournament. The seminars were held in numerous cities around Ser- bia including Belgrade, Bač and Subotica and were open for athletes, coaches and offi- cials. The seminar was aimed to teach the latter about the rules that go into a weightlift- ing competition. As Caruana travelled around these cities giving the semi- nars, the Maltese athletes had the opportunity to train with the Serbian athletes while be- ing overlooked by interna- tional coaches. IJF academy recognised as an autonomous higher education institute THE Academy of the Interna- tional Judo Federation has been officially recognised as an au- tonomous higher education in- stitute by the NCFHE (National Commission for Further and Higher Education) of Malta. Conceived in 2013 under the leadership of IJF President Mar- ius Vizer, the IJF Academy has been growing nonstop since its inception. To date more than 2,000 students from more than 100 countries took part in the Level 1 and 2 training courses (Level 3 under preparation). Parliamentary Secretary for Sport Clifton Grima said the certification was an impor- tant step for Malta and for the sport. "We are proud to work together with such a proactive International federation, asso- ciated with the national judo federation, to promote sport and education," he said. "We are looking forward to contin- uing our successful collabora- tion in the future." With this recognition the IJF is the first international federa- tion to have its academy inter- nationally certified. Mohamed Meridja, IJF Education and Coaching Director said that the IJF Academy has proven how successful and effective it was. "This is part of our de- velopment strategy," he said. "I want to congratulate all those who participated in that suc- cess, and I want to wish good luck to all the future students." During the official ceremony, the diploma of recognition was handed over to Envic Galea, Director of the Academy, by Godfrey Vella, Chairman of NCFHE. Vella said the cere- mony was not only recognising the IJF academy in Malta, but also in Europe and, by exten- sion, in the whole world. The ceremony was held in Malta, where the IJF Academy is incorporated and where a practical session Level 1 is ac- tually taking place during the week in the presence of many World and Olympic medal- lists, including Daniel Lascau (ROU - World Champion 1991 - IJF and Academy Sport Di- rector), Mark Huizinga (NED - 2000 Olympic Champion, double Olympic bronze med- allist, Word bronze medallist), Giuseppe Maddaloni (ITA - 2000 Olympic Champion), Giulia Quintavalle (ITA - 2008 Olympic Champion), Rosalba Forciniti (ITA - 2012 Olym- pic bronze medallist), Lucia Morico (ITA - 2004 Olympic bronze medallist) and Ruben Houkes (NED - 2007 World Champion and 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, chairman of the IJF Judo for Children Com- mission). Left to right: The Chairman of NCFHE, Godfrey Vella, Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima and IJF Academy Director Envic Galea LPIC 2: Olympic Champion Giuseppe Maddaloni (ITA - centre) during the IJF Academy course Fourth place for Maltese weightlifting team Andy Borg (far right) with (bottom from left) Keith Azzopardi and Rodmar Pulis