Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/850837
21 Sport WEIGHTLIFTING TENNIS maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 19 JULY 2017 Malta's top athletes compete at the Malta Weightlifting Club Competition & ZKC International OVER the past weekend, 45 weightlifters from 6 clubs bat- tled it out in the Malta Weight- lifting Club Competition & ZKC International. The event saw some of Malta's most prom- ising Weightlifters including Yazmin Zammit Stevens who will be competing in this years University Games in Taipei this August, and Kieran Mifsud who is also preparing for an- other major international com- petition, the Commonwealth Championships in Australia this September. Alpha WL club dominated the event having the largest amount of athletes with the majority of them ranking at the top of their group. The cadets kicked the day off with an exciting showing. First time competitor, Tenishia Thornton (Alpha WL Club), in the category for cadets com- peting on Sunday, managed to fight it out with the boys lifting an impressive total of 50kg and set 3 national records. Young, but persistent Rylee Borg (Al- pha WL Club) showed that he is more than just an experienced weightlifter with a confident performance, breaking his own previous national records and finishing with a total of 76kg. The women's group saw the return of national team athlete, Elisia Scicluna, who was back for her first competition since having knee surgery last May. Elisa Scicluna represented the Alpha WL Club and managed a respectable 148kg total. Yasmin Zammit Stevens of Northern Strength WL Club had her best performance to date breaking a total of 4 national records. She managed a 79kg snatch and a solid 97kg clean and jerk on her second attempt. Zammit Ste- vens attempted 100kg on her third and final attempt of the clean and jerk, and while being successful on the clean part of the lift, closely missed out on the jerk. Other impressive results came from Junior weightlifter, Rebec- ca Fitz (representing DEGREE + um), who successfully lifted a total of 119kg and even man- aged national records in the process. The men's group saw 20 ath- letes lifting on Sunday. Alpha WL Club's Kieran Mifsud domi- nated the group with an easy to- tal finish of 275kg. His total sin- clair of 300.23 points was a clear 19 points ahead of second place athlete Matthew Camilleri from Northern Strength Weightlift- ing. Rodmar Pulis (Alpha WL Club) surprised spectators with a great performance, finish- ing in third place overall in the men's group. Overall, Alpha WL Club fin- ished on top with a whopping total of 3727.48 points, followed by Northern Strength Weight- lifting Club with 1497.80 points. Crossfit 356 finished in third place with 1239.20 points.De- gree + UM, The Garage & Tri- tones SC followed respectively. Federer qualifies for ATP Finals for record 15th time ROGER Federer has secured his place in the ATP Finals for a record 15th time af- ter the Swiss world number three won a record eighth Wimbledon title on Sunday, the Association of Tennis Professionals confirmed on Monday. The 35-year-old six-time champion joins French Open winner Rafa Nadal in the season-ending tournament at the O2 Arena in London, having played in the event for a record 14 consecutive years from 2002-15 before missing out last year through injury. "I look forward to returning to London in November," Federer said. "I was sad not to be able to compete last year as I love play- ing there and had not missed the event since 2002." The 19-times grand slam winner has won five tournaments this year, including the Australian Open, and is on target to re- turn to the top of the world rankings for the first time since 2012 if he maintains the form that has earned him a 31-2 record. Federer and Nadal will be joined at the Nov. 12-19 event by the remainder of the top eight players in the Race to London standings following the Paris Masters. Roger Federer