Wawira finishes 5th in Paralympics debut, aims World Record

TOKYO, Japan, Aug 26 – After missing out the podium finish at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Kenya’s powerlifter Hellen Wawira says that performance has motivated her to go for the World Record in the next international competition.

Making her debut in the Paralympics and the only African in the competition, Wawira finished fifth overall in the women’s powerlifting (41kg and above), a big improvement compared to the World Cup where she did not manage to lift any of the three attempts.

In the deep field that had World Record holder China’s Guo Lingling, Wawira defeated other five contestants from Colombia and Brazil who had better record than her and she said in a big championship like the Paralympics, to get a good lift is an achievement.

Wawira managed to get two good lifts out of the three, starting off well by lifting 90kg, then powered through 93kg but was overwhelmed by the third attempt of 95kg where she recorded a no lift.

“The event was good though my target was to lift 100kg, I did my level best because in the last two days I have not been feeding well but I am grateful for getting a good lift, this has motivated me, to get that in Paralympics is not easy, you saw some good lifters failed to record points,” Wawira, who has 40kg told Capital Sport after the competition on Thursday.

She added, “When I go back home, I will go and work on my power and achieve my targets in the Commonwealth Games. In my first attempt I want to lift 100kg then aim to break the World Record by lifting 110kg, that is my dream and I know I will achieve it.”

Loading Coach, David Ochieng backed Wawira to go for the World Record, and congratulated Wawira for stepping up in the international stage.

“We have beaten good powerlifters and I am happy with that, to finish ahead of teams like Brazil and Colombia is great. We now going back home to train hard and ensure she goes for the 100kg in the first attempt, second attempt 105kg and third 110kg, she will break the World Record, it is possible,” Ochieng underscored.

He added that, “She had started well with the two good attempts but heading for the third, she had tension because she was thinking too much about the Venezuelan whom they were fighting for the bronze and that affected her,” Ochieng said.

“Our strategy was to position herself in the first two attempts then go for the killer in the last, our target was to beat the Venezuelan but she was to powerful but generally, Hellen (Wawira) did well to finish 5th and beat good athletes like Brazil, Colombia and Cuba. In Dubai during the World Cup, she did not even manage to lift and she got a wild and here in the Paralympics she has done us proud,” Ochieng underscored.

The star of the competition was Chinese Lingling who broke her own World Record by lifting 109kg in the fourth attempt that is given as a bonus.

She set a Paralympic Record by lifting 108kg in the third attempt to win gold ahead of Widasih Ni Nengah of Indonesia who lifted the best in 98kg while Fuentes Monasterio of Venezuela.

-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Tokyo, Japan-