Serbian success for powerliftersin the EuropeanChampionships

THE local powerlifting fraternity is celebrating yet again following more success on the big stage.

This time it came at the European Championships in Knjazevac, Serbia.

Kyle Vauls, Matthew Balfour and David Anderson, who compete out of Sam’s Gym in Ballymomney, were representing Great Britain at the championships and they did GB proud.

Competing in the Open 110kg category Kyle produced a solid performance to secure the GPC European Championship for the second time. And the Coleraine man followed that up with being awarded the Best Overall Open Lifter trophy for his display.

Kyle finshed his day with a 370kg squat, a 295kg bench and a 310kg deadlift for a total of 975kg to give him the overall win, however he told Times Sport he was a bit disappointed he didn’t record bigger lifts in the bench and squat.

“Obviously I’m very pleased to have won the GPC European Championship for the second time,” said Kyle.

“However I had hoped for bigger lifts in the Squat and Bench, due to circumstances beyond my control though it just wasn’t possible.

“We had to travel for a full 17 hours on the Thursday to get to Serbia which was draining and once we arrived we quickly found out it was going to be very difficult to get something decent to eat which we were used to.

“When I was warming up on the Saturday it was clear to see that it had taken its toll on me, I just felt so drained, I didn’t have my usual energy levels

“But we soldiered on and produced solid performances to secure the results, which were a welcome boost for the Great Britain team and also for Sam’s Gym.

“So all the travelling and the issues with the food were made worthwhile in the end that’s for sure.

“The next stop for us is Hungary in September for the World Championships, the plan is simple, bigger lifts and hopefully some more medals!”

Matthew Balfour also tasted medal success in Serbia.

Competing in the 100kg Open category Matthew produced another great performance. He recorded a 310kg squat, a 240kg bench and a 290kg deadlift, which gave him an overall total of 840kg.

This put him in second place in his class which was enough for a third place in the overall open ranking.

There was disappointment for David Anderson though who suffered a bad injury at the very start of the competition.

In his very first lift David tore his hamstring and this ended his competition before it had even got a chance to get going. It was disappointing for him especially after all the training he put in over the last few months in preparation for the Championships.

The lads would like to thank everyone who helped them get to these Championships and those who supported them in their training.

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