Weightlifting to start in schools next year

There have been discussions to introduce weightlifting in schools from next year. This was confirmed to SUNsports yesterday by Fiji Weightlifting president Della Shaw- Elder. “It’s in the early stages of discussion and we want to start with just pilot schools, and we’ll see from there,” she told SUNsports.

“We have to be very careful that this is implemented into the ground because we’re dealing with safety as its strength and conditioning.” Elder said she is excited about the project of introducing weightlifting in schools. “We had requested Government about a proposal to have a high-performance centre (unit) back in 2019,” she said.



“We just received the email today to say that this is where you will put your center and now it’s just awaiting confirmation to see what’s going to happen.” Elder said the establishment of a weightlifting fitness centre would boost the level of the sport in the country. “The oldest athlete in the group is Taniela Rainibogi who is 26 years old and every athlete after that is younger than him, so we have a bright future in terms of weightlifting,” she said.

“It’s the third day, Fiji has won a youth bronze in the women’s 59kg category and also the men’s 81kg category.” Elder said they can gauge their performance from their current results in preparation for the Commonwealth Games in 2026. “India has been dominating in this competition, so I encourage our Indo-Fijian friends and families that both male and female are winning medals.

They are punching above waters, and this is a classic example. I encourage everybody just to come down and see what weightlifting is all about.” Elder said the Fiji weightlifters would continue to compete in the next two days.

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