Sara Ahmed, an Olympic medalist has helped inspire Iran to launch their women weightlifting programme

For the first time, Iran is sending a team of seven women weightlifters to an international competition at Ningbo in China where the 2019 Asian Championships will be held this weekend.

Iran Press /Sport : "The competition, to be held from April 18-28 in Ningbo, eastern China, is one of the stages of winning a spot in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo," said the President of the Iran Weightlifting Federation (IRIWF) Ali Moradi

Although the entries for the Asian Championships starting in Ningbo, China, this weekend have not yet been released by the Asian Weightlifting Federation (AWF), Iran has confirmed it is sending a full men’s team of 10, and seven women.

Ali Moradi told 'insidethegames', "I am very happy, very proud – we have worked so hard with our female team over the past year."

Iranian women’s weightlifters to go on Asian Cup for the first time

He said the lifters would try hard to qualify for Tokyo 2020, for which Iran can enter a maximum of two men and two women, while Paris 2024 is the big target.

Iranian women’s weightlifters team who are from 17 to 22 years old, has a national training headquarters and an Iranian coach, Maryam Amrolah.

The female lifters include Pupak Basami, Maryam Zare, Abrisham Arjmandkhah, Elnaz Bajelani, Elham Hosseini, Marzieh Ghanbari and Parisa Jahanfekrian 101/211/205

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Sara Ahmed, an Olympic medalist has helped inspire Iran to launch their women weightlifting programme
Iranian women’s weightlifters to go on Asian Cup for the first time