• Submitted by: admin
• Sports
• 06 / 19 / 2007

Paraphrasing a popular saying, Cuban weightlifting laughed last, and he laughed best in the last day of the Junior World Championship held in Prague. It was here that the Las Tunas-born Alberto Pupo, like a tropical hurricane, swept all the titles in the 105 kg plus category.

Among the thirteen contenders competing for the title of strongest youngster in the world, the Cuban was the lightest.

Despite this, Pupo made it to the top of the podium in the snatch, where his 166 kilos were equalled by Kostiantyn Sotskov from Ukraine, nation that won the bronze medal thanks to the 156 kg lifted by Denys Smorodinov.

However, things were different in the clean and jerk, since the Cuban easily "cleaned and jerked" 210 kg and totalled 376kg, ten more kilos "in both cases" than Sotskov, who ended up winning all the silver medals of the competition.

By doing this, Pupo equalled his best personal marks set in the last continental sub-19 year old championship and ended with an outstanding performance this time in the juniors, which were also outstandingly represented by Alejandro Cisneros in the 94 kg.

On Friday, Cisneros nearly stepped on the podium, if he would have added a kilo to his 160 kg snatch "five more than his best mark" he would have ended third in the snatch and the total. Nonetheless, the youth was able to take over his first competition outside the house by setting three new national records in the category.

The good news for Cuban weightlifting confirm that the new generations can give continuity to the take off led by our main weightlifters of the moment, who are these days in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where they are training for the traditional Simon Bolivar Cup set to start on June 20.

Source: By Raiko Martin, Juventud Rebelde