Nauru almost snatches victory

21 Mar 06 10:16

Australia's Deborah Lovely lifting her way to victory

Australia's Deborah Lovely lifts her way to victory in the Clean and Jerk Women's 75kg.

Nauru's Sheba Deireragea has won the Weightlifting silver medal in the Women's 75kg division after she lost a tight battle for gold with Australia's Deborah Lovely.

Lovely received a standing ovation when she successfully lifted her final attempt in the Clean and Jerk in what was a close competition with the outcome decided in the last two lifts. Deireragea failed at her third attempt of 113kg while Lovely, who had lifted 112kg at her second attempt, made a successful final lift of 115kg.

The two women came into the Clean and Jerk evenly placed when both lifted 93kg in the Snatch. Lovely finished with a total of 208kg, with Deireragea taking silver with 202kg. South Africa's Babalwa Ndeleleni won the bronze with a total of 182kg, ahead of Malta's Lindsay Borg with 165kg.

"It certainly means a lot," said Lovely of her win. "This is the best crowd I've been in front of... I can't believe I've just won."

She acknowledged the competition from the Nauru camp was strong: "It's pretty awesome. My legs are jelly. We knew it was going to be head-to-head, Sheba has improved over the last few years."

Deireragea made her international debut and the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 where she won bronze in the 69kg division, lifting a total of 200kg - 90kg in the Snatch and 110kg in the Clean and Jerk. She has been an Oceania and South Pacific junior record holder in the 69kg class, has a scholarship with the Oceania Weightlifting Centre in Sigatoka and won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2004.

Deireragea admitted she hadn't expected to win the event, but knew she could put up a fight.

"I came here with silver in my mind, not gold, but when the opportunity came I thought of gold," she said.

For more results, visit the Weightlifting Schedule and Results section of this Website.

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