RIYADH — Al-Anoud Al-Khalifi, the Saudi weightlifter, emerged the winner in the virtual weightlifting tournament for women, organized by the Saudi Arabian Weightlifting Federation. The two-day event was held on one of the visual applications, with the participation of eight prominent women weightlifters. Al-Anoud bagged the highest number of points in the total practicing sessions while Al-Anoud Al-Shahri and Munira Al-Ruwaitie came second and third respectively. The competitions were supervised by Abdel Majid Boulahia, the Algerian coach of the Saudi national weightlifting team, which was followed up by the Federation President Mohammed Al-Harbi. Al-Harbi said that the competition was held to test mainly the fitness of weightlifters and their commitment to continue practices during the lockdown period after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The tournament was in preparation for their upcoming national and international weightlifting championships, Saudi Press Agency reported. The tournament saw the participation of Afnan Sabbagh, who bagged six bronze medals in the West Asia and GCC Weightlifting Championship held in Oman last year despite the time difference as she is at present pursuing her medical studies as a scholarship student in Japan. Many social media followers appreciated her participation, saying that this reflects her commitment and desire to continue to represent the Kingdom even from foreign countries. It is noteworthy that Al-Anoud Al-Khalifi and Afnan became the first-ever Saudi women to take part in the West Asia and GCC Weightlifting Championship during which they brought home a total of 12 medals.
