Teenage weightlifter aims high on Commonwealth Games debut

Teenage weightlifting sensation, 17-year-old Rachael Achieng, will be looking to stamp authority in weightlifting in the 64kgs category on her debut to the Commonwealth Games in July.

 Achieng’ who won a bronze medal at the 2019 Africa Senior Weightlifting Championships in Nairobi, also took part in the African Games in Rabat the same year. At age 11, Achieng bagged three gold medals at the 2017 Africa Youth and Junior Championships in Entebbe, Uganda.

 It is not a surprise therefore that she was the first Kenyan lady to be awarded a qualification slot for the Birmingham Games. The young lifter is currently preparing for the Global Games.

 “The camp has helped me a lot in increasing my total because now I can snatch 70kgs and Jerk 80kgs up from 65kg and 75kg. I have improved my mental strength and my skills have gotten better. At the Commonwealth Games I aim to snatch 80kgs and jack 90 or 95kgs,” she says.

 All Africa Games triple silver medalist Winny Langat is currently working in conjunction with head coach Douglas Locho to help better the lifters’ in camp.

“Training has been good and we thank the Ministry of Sports and National Olympic Committee of Kenya for this camp. Our expectations as I train is to lift more and add some kilograms in clean and jerk. Eventually, the goal is to improve my performance,” said Langat.

Speaking during their training session, Locho celebrated the move by the Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) for ensuring preparations begin early.

"So far we are building up on speed as well as rectifying some small aspects in our techniques. The lifters have adapted well to the training.

Generally, I think we will have good results from the team because for the first time we will be in camp for close to two months and that will really play a part as far as our performance is concerned,” the tactician said.

The five-person provisional Kenya Amateur Weightlifting team which consists of Langat, Maurice Aromo, Anthony Libasia, Benjamin Osiemo, and Achieng’ has been training together at Kasarani Stadium since 21 May.

Coach Locho is being assisted by James Adede, Kenya's representative in weightlifting at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The team underwent Anti-Doping training on Wednesday which will be done regularly for teams in camp to promote clean sport.