‘Big John’ crowned C/bean & Regional ‘King’, Morgan unstoppable on debut

May 24, 2009 Sports

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Guyana’s Power men, who once again proved their mettle by destroying all the competition at the 3rd Annual Caribbean Bench Press and Powerlifting Championships held in the British Virgin Islands, yesterday interacted with the media at a press conference hosted by the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPF) at the Tropical View International Hotel, Campbell Avenue, Georgetown.
Caribbean and Regional 125kg open champion ‘Big’ John Edwards, Randolph Morgan, who on debut was crowned Caribbean champion in the 82.5kg class, also snatched the best lifter award in the open category and Mervin ‘Spongy’ Moses, who encountered difficulties adjusting to his new bench press suit, all attended yesterday’s activity.
Edwards smashed his old squat record in the master’s class posting a new mark of 337kg. He bench pressed 215kg and dead lift 285kg to total 837.5kg to cop the best lifter gold medal. ‘Big’ John won the men’s open 125kg category.
Morgan had a best squat of 285kg, bench 190kg and dead lift 285kg for a total of 760.0kg.
Moses, who had to lose about 7 pounds to make the 75kg weight class, had a best squat of 290kg on his 3rd attempt but failed all three bench press attempts having encountered difficulties with the new suit.
He was unable to take any further part in the championship. He received a bronze medal for participating.
Team Guyana placed 4th overall with 24 points among 8 countries that had full contingents in some cases numbering 15 lifters.
National coach John Edwards summed up the teams’ performance as creditable, singling out debutant Morgan for special mention.
He said Morgan was well into it and never displayed any signs of nervousness. “It was like home for him, he was raging and going.
He was so much into it that after his first two attempts the officials from the NAPF were so amazed with him displaying so much energy that they said he had to be drug tested.”
Edwards said both he and Morgan were tested and the results would be known in the coming weeks.
Morgan, who lifted the best lifter award at the last senior championships in remarks, said it was a very good start to his international career and it was very challenging. “This is just the beginning of the road and journey for me.”
In explaining Mervin Moses’ case, Edwards said  that new rules are set by the NAPF and are forwarded to the local Federation quarterly via magazines and they were aware of the rule which speaks to altering of any gear from footwear up.
These pieces of gear he said are checked and stamped before the start of competition.
They never knew, Edwards said, that the rule on altering was that in-depth explaining that Moses took his bench press suit which he is accustomed to wearing but had done some minor stitching to it to strengthen a few weak areas.
The uniform was showed to the media and while the area was small where the stitches were, the NAPF officials deemed that it was not fit for competition.
“What they are saying, alteration or any mending to your equipment had to be along the line of the original stitches.
Another lifter decided to lend Moses a shirt but unfortunately it was a bit smaller than his and he had a lot of problems adjusting and that was the reason for him failing. He was failed for improper form and lifting of his head which was brought on by the smallness of the new vest.”
Moses did lift the weights but not as smooth as he would, if he was wearing the shirt he was accustomed to.
Edwards also reported there are a number of new competition rules out and the GAPF will be contacting the various gyms in order to bring them up to date with same.
Manager of the team to the BVI, who is also President of the GAPF, Peter Green said he was disappointed that Moses lost, but that he will rebound noting that even the NAPF officials have acknowledged that he is World Class material.
Moses will have the opportunity to make amends when he competes at the Regional championships set for Miami August 3-9, 2009.
Green noted that the NAPF championships is actually the base where powerlifters start qualifying for Regional and World competition and Guyana made an impact with only three lifters.
Commenting on Moses circumstances, Green said he was derailed based on some technical areas according to the judges. “What we have done is that we have placed Guyana on the map as a tourism destination due to the fact that Guyana has been unanimously approved to host the 4th Annual North American Powerlifting Champions, next year.”
This Green said is a very important and significant achievement for Guyana. “We have never hosted any international powerlifting championships in the history of the sport.
We have never had so many champions at the same time in our history – but we have started and I know this is not the end, we have many more champions to produce once we get corporate support.”
Green also holds the view that Guyana will make a great impact at next year’s competition since he is confident that we have the capacity to organise a high level tournament.
The GAPF boss will be attending the Regional Championships as Guyana’s delegate to the Congress, and is hoping with the support of the Guyana Tourism Authority and other affiliated bodies, he can sell Guyana as a pristine tourist destination for next year’s championships.
(Franklin Wilson)

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