2023 FESUPO South American Men’s Classic Powerlifting Championships: Mohamed sets new M1 Squat record, bags 5 gold medals

…Trotman claims 3 bronze medals

Guyana’s rich harvest of medals at the 10th FESUPO Regional South American Men’s Classic Powerlifting Championships here in Lima, Peru continued on the third day of competition, Thursday, with the athletes from the ‘Land of Many Waters’ raking in a total of eight (8) medals.
Headlining the day was Wazim Mohamed (93kg M1 class), who not only obliterated his only challenger to claim all the available gold medals, but set a new FESUPO Men’s Masters 1 deadlift record in the process to cap a fabulous day on the platform.

Athletes had had to face multiple challenges owing to a lack of proper organising during the course of the first two days of action, but day three saw great improvement, to the extent that the FESUPO executives decided to introduce a second platform to speed up the lifts, as the lone one in place could not have sufficed and would have resulted in many more late-night contests running into the wee hours of the morning.
The organisers even introduced presentation ceremonies during the course of the day, which resulted in much less time being spent at the competition arena.
Their female colleagues Sarah Sanmogan and Keisha Abrigo did remarkably well on the opening day of the competition, but Mohamed and Trotman ensured that the medal count for Guyana increased handsomely.

Tapia Hidalgo Gustavo Enrique of Chile was Mohamed’s only opponent, as Coimbra David of Brazil, who was registered to compete, did not do so. Mohamed bettered his Chilean rival in all the lifts. His best squat was 240.0kg, benchpress was 165.0kg, deadlift was 272.5kg; and he set a new FESUPO record with his total of 677.5kg.
Further, Mohamed entered the South American Men’s Classic Bench Press Championships and pressed his way to the gold. Enrique’s scores were: squat 202.5kg, benchpress 132.5, deadlift 232.5kg, and total, 567.5.
Leroy ‘The Underdog’ Trotman battled in the Men’s Open 93kg category and landed the overall bronze, apart from the bronze medals he harvested in the squat (240.0kg) and deadlift (285.0kg). He also registered a benchpress of 142.5kg for a total of 667.5kg.
The gold medal was taken by Chile’s Bernado Ibenez with a total of 735.0kg (squat 270.0kg, benchpress 180.0kg, deadlift 285.0kg). The silver was taken by Brazilian Denis Gibson, whose total was 702.5kg (squat 272.5, benchpress 165.0kg, deadlift 265.0kg).
On day two, the other Guyanese debutant for Guyana, Kheon Evans, did not place in the top three of the 83kg Open division, despite registering a good performance. He was plagued by a shoulder injury, and Bjorn Williams was also not able to place in the 105kg Open division.
Guyana’s medal tally going into the final day, Saturday, with Masters 4 athlete Naranjan Singh, the only athlete to lift in the Equipped contest, was as follows: Gold 11; Silver 2; Bronze 5.
The GAPLF is expressing sincere gratitude to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport; the National Sports Commission; the Guyana Olympic Association; John Fernandes Limited; the National Milling Company of Guyana; and 592Tees, for making the team’s trip to Peru a reality.