IRNA – Iranian female athletes are taking part in Asian Weightlifting Championship in China in a breathtaking contest in hope of making headway to the Olympic Games.

The championship to be hosted by the Chinese eastern coastal city of Ningbo, Zhejiang province from April 17 to 29, which serves as the qualifying event for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Iranian women will be participating in the contest of seven weightlifters.
The first competition of Iranian women athletes was held in Urgench, Uzbekistan in 2018 in the context of Asian Junior Women Weightlifting Championship.

The taboo of Iranian women's participating in weightlifting competitions was definitely broken at the games, and the athletes proved that they can win medals, like men, in every sport fields in an Islamic cloting.

IRNA sports correspondent said that they have a long way to go for landmark success in Asia, the world and the Olympic Games.
He said that Iran's Weightlifting Federation shoulders the responsibility to hire experienced coaches with full authority to transform the country's women weightlifters nurturing their talents with a focus on bodybuilding.

The Iranian junior female weightlifters with 234 scores in Uzbekistan were ranked 9th in Asia. Now, in addition to the importance of their presence in international competitions, the team and individual rankings can be considered a ground to build on for more hits in the global and Olympic Games.

Iran will have two Olympic quota places for women, and given that the number of quota places for male weightlifters in the games has been decreased to two, the federation should take measures for women's progress in the field.

Therefore, the presence of Iranian athletes to the Asian Championship, as their first Olympic qualifying event, is of great importance and can be regarded as a starting point for the Iranian female weightlifters

Vice President of Iran's Weightlifting Federation for women affairs Bahar Bahrami has said that the deficiency of budget to build infrastructures required for women weightlifters in provincial towns deprived them of training as they have to work with men's equipment that might endanger their health.

She said that coaches must help develop talents of the female athletes as per programs of Iran's Ministry of Sport.
She assured that other provinces have already launched investment in younger talents so that they would be discovered and invited to national training camps.

She pledged that in cooperation with the ministry, the talented athletes from across the country would have access to training facilities in their own hometowns after returning from the camps.