Photo: Sam Pera Jnr readies to lift in the clean and jerk. 1 91001101
It was three silvers for Sam Pera Jnr in the 105kg-plus class at the final session at the weightlifting competition last night.
Willed on by a vocal crowd, Pera lifted 140kg in the snatch and 172kg in the clean and jerk – one kilo ahead of Tongan Ma’amaloa Lolohea – to record a 312kg total.
But while Pera was the crowd favourite, the show belonged to Nauruan Itte Detenamo who set a new South Pacific record and personal best in the snatch (176kg), and smashed his own Pacific Games record set in 2007, with a total of 386kg.
Detenamo tried to clean and jerk 220kg on his last attempt to better his own personal total, but he could not raise the weights above his chest.
Theron Taupau from American Samoa was third in the snatch with a lift of 125kg.
In the 105kg category, Meameaa Thomas from Kiribati won gold in the snatch (140kg), clean and jerk (180kg) and total lift (320kg), ahead of Amete Luaki from New Caledonia and Tovia Opeloge from Samoa. - Cook Islands News
Last Modified on 03/10/2009 09:14