Lifters achieve goals in Delhi

Teenaged weightlifters Sirla Pera (18) and Luisa Peters (17) are arguably the Cook Islands most successful athletes so far at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

They were never in the hunt for medals in their respective lifting competition – but they nailed their goal of smashing their old personal best lifts and setting bigger and better ones to build on in the future.

Pera was the first of the pair to compete on Saturday night where he lifted in the 94kg open men’s division against older and more experienced lifters.

He was impressively calm despite being faced with huge challenges and this saw the young man add 9kg to his old lift of 236kg, for a new personal best record of 245kg.

Pera in the clean snatch division lifted 102kg in his first lift, followed up by a second successful lift of 106kg and then a whopping 110kg in his final lift.

In the clean and jerk division he began with a successful lift of 132kg followed by a superb lift in his second attempt of 135kg.

And although Pera was able to clean his next lift of 141kg – he wasn’t able to jerk the lift and dropped the weights but humbly acknowledged the judges and audience for their support with a cheeky smile.

“I was proud and fired up,” said Pera.

The humble teenager was indeed proud of his achievement – for himself, his team, his family and his country.

In his post lift interview Pera admitted to being a little nervous but coach and father Sam Pera said that he and Peters were more nervous for Pera.

Sam Pera added that while watching his young protgs compete at such a high level, he yearned to be competing again.

But he added that it was the ‘kids’ turn now as he proudly admitted that his eldest son and lifter Sam Pera Jnr and Sirla have both lifted better than his record when he lifted in the same 94kg category.

And it’s only onwards and upwards for the young lifter who is eager to continue training and improving.

And he acknowledged the support of the whole nation and sacrifices made by his family, and his first coach – his mother – that has made this huge step in his lifting career possible.

But this rising star needs more support if he is to one day win gold for the country, and sponsorship can help him reach his goal.

“We are always looking for more sponsors so we can do better in our sport,” said Sirla Pera.

Peters puts in top lift – page 14