MANUELI Tulo, Poama Qaqa and Sitiveni Nukuse Timi all won a gold medal each in their respective categories in the opening day of the 2016 Oceania Weightlifting Championship at Vodafone Arena in Suva last night.
Tulo had his best lift in the men’s 56kg senior snatch with a first attempt of 104kg while he failed his second and third attempt of 108kg.
Qaqa won gold medal in the men’s 56kg junior snatch category.
Tulo dedicated his gold medal win to his three-day-old baby girl.
“I dedicate this gold medal win to my wife and my newborn baby. I will be going to spend some time with them together with the team for the next five days of competition,” he said.
“Fiji had a good start overall.”
Tulo said he did not meet the expectations of the people despite the win.
“In training I was lifting over 140 kilograms but today (yesterday) I was hoping to put up a good fight but then I switched off,” he said.
“I don’t know what happened to me.
“I can cope with the crowd pressure and I am really sad because I could not put up a good performance. I think I can really do better than today (yesterday).”
Tulo originally from Levuka had been training at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in New Caledonia for some time now.
He was challenged by the Nauru weight-lifter Elson Brechtefield who finished second with a lift of 100kg.
Brechtefield is also Tulo’s roommate in New Caledonia. Tulo, 26, said he respected him for being humble and a good athlete.
“My roommate gave me a tough competition and really pressured me since he knew he had a chance to beat them.”
Fiji’s Poama Qaqa also came third in the senior category with a lift of 87kg.
Meanwhile, in the men’ 50kg snatch Fiji’s Sitiveni Nukuse Timi finished won gold medal with a lift of 50kg. He was the lone weight-lifter in the youth category while Manuila Raobu came first in the men 56kg youth category.
