Commonwealth Powerlifting and Bench Press Championships: Chan snares gold for Guyana

…To chase more medals on Tuesday with Williams

Following a seven (7) year hiatus away from international competition owing to elevating himself academically, Demetri Chan made a welcome return to the international platform when he pressed his way to a gold medal at the Commonwealth Powerlifting and Bench Press Championships taking place in Sun City, South Africa.
Contesting the Open 74kg class against Canadian Oliver Webster, Chan opened with a lift of 137.5kg for his first attempt, before lifting the bar to 142.5kg, which he also succeeded with. His final attempt of 147.5kg was not successful, but he had already done enough to walk away with the gold medal, leaving the silver for Webster, whose best press was 120kg.
He indicated that he was very cognizant of the fact that he still has the Commonwealth Men’s Classic Powerlifting Championships where he and Bjorn Williams (Open 105kg class), who joins the team in South Africa today, will be competing on Tuesday.
Chan shared that even though he was away from the sport studying in Cuba, his hunger for the sport remained intact.

“Seven years away from competition is a long time but I kept the flame going and stayed hungry. I feel in the past year of being home I’ve made tremendous advancement with my performances, and with overseas exposure I will only continue to improve. The path forward for me is to keep improving, continuing to train hard, be disciplined and stay healthy as well as injury free.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles S. Ramson MP, congratulated Chan on his performance on behalf of the Government and people of Guyana, while also wishing Team Guyana the best in South Africa.
Minister Ramson noted that the sport has been doing consistently well on the international platform, having also won one gold and four bronze medals at the South American Championships in Argentina a few weeks ago through 79-year-old Naranjan Singh and Sarah Sanmoogan.

Guyana Amateur Powerlifing Federation President, Franklin Wilson, also extended compliments to Chan on behalf of the fraternity, stating that he was always confident that Chan would medal for Guyana again.
Wilson expressed delight that he is back, and is confident that bigger achievements are on the horizon for this talented lifter.
Chan will be coming up against five other athletes from Canada, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, England and Sri Lanka; while Williams, who will join his teammates in South Africa today, will take on nine other athletes from the Isle of Man, Wales, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, England and Sri Lanka.
Additionally, Guyana will be represented at the World Masters Men’s and Women’s Classic Championships on Monday in Sun City, South Africa, by Roger Rogers and Nadina Taharally. Rogers and Taharally, who both competed at World Masters and medaled last year, will be going after more silverware.
Taharally will be challenging ten (10) other athletes in the Masters 2, 76kg class from USA, Great Britain, Hungary, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa; while Rogers will compete in the Masters 2, 120kg class against seven (7) other athletes from US Virgin Islands, Great Britain, South Africa, France, and Lebanon.