Weightlifting:Kenya’s Ochieng retains his NEC seat at continental body,as Olympic qualifiers begin – KBC

Kenya weightlifting federation Chairman Pius Ochieng has retained his position as an Executive board member of the Weightlifting Federation of Africa; WFA.

Ochieng was elected during the Federation’s elective assembly in Nairobi. Khaled Mehalhel of Libya retained his seat as the WFA President after garnering while Manareddin Esheli retained his seat as the federation’s Secretary General.

Khaled emphasized the need for weight lifters to compete and win devoid of cheating

‘’I would like to call on the athletes to change their mentality and abhor doping, to have a mind shift and not engage in use of banned substances’’, Khalel remarked.

Nigeria’s Chimdi Ejioku was elected the as the new Vice President. Ejioku who is an executive member of the Nigerian Weightlifting Federation spoke of the goal of the newly elected office.

‘’The goal of the Weightlifting Federation of Africa, WFA, is to lift up the game ,get the standards up, yes in Africa like many sports we are still coming up but here we have an advantage that weightlifting is an Olympic sport and Africans by nature are strong people so it’s an area that we can cash in and make an impact’’, Chimdi Ejioku said.

Kenya’s John Ogolla was elected a member of the technical committee alongside Mauritius’ Monien Magarajen and Libya’s Eibuaishi Sheikh.

Meanwhile the Africa Weightlifting Olympic qualifiers kicked off in Nairobi Wednesday with a total of 13 countries taking part.

Kenya is being represented by 8 weightlifters with the federation chair Pius Ochieng expressing confidence that Kenya is expected to qualify at least two weightlifters to the forthcoming Tokyo Olympic Games.