Asia Pacifics breaks crowd records at AusFitness Expo Melbourne

A standing room only crowd throughout two days saw records broken and the triumph of the talented team of Nauru at the Asia Pacific Championships. WRs came from Deamo Baguga, returning from 7 years in obscurity to squat 301kg@ 85kg and Dave Mwardaga, also with a Squat record, 310kg @ 94kg. But the star of the show was Superheavyweight AI Temaki, buried on a 400kg Squat but then roaring back to get it deep and three whites on his last attempt.

Team Sri Lanka was up there also, headed by veteran Ransilu Jayathilake, hampered by a lat injury but on top in the 120kg class. India’s lifters had to jump the visas hurdle and arrived half way through the meet but produced medals via Sarabjit Singh and Tejbir Singh.

Best Womens Lifter was Rachel Green (NZ), while Deamo Baguga went over the 600 point barrier to take Best Men’s Lifter.

This event was massively viewed in the Expo but was only a forerunner of the Asian Champs in Nepal August, the Oceania Championships at AusFitness Expo Sydney September and the World Championships in Sri Lanka November.