WEIGHTLIFTING – BAHRAIN’S Ingrid Vanesa Segura Grueso took home the Best Junior Female Athlete in Asia award at the conclusion of the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships 2025, held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The individual honour was confirmed by the Bahrain Weightlifting Federation (BWF), and it headlined a sensational eight-medal haul for the kingdom’s lifters, which included five gold medals – three of which were bagged by Grueso.
She claimed a clean sweep of her gold – including for total, snatch, and clean and jerk – in the junior women’s 69kg division, while also setting a pair of new junior Asian records.
The two other gold medals were captured by Jhon Murillo for his snatch and total in the youth men’s 94kg category. Murillo also secured a silver medal for the clean and jerk. To add to that, Murillo won two bronze medals in the junior division of the same weight class for snatch and total, completing the kingdom’s eight medals.
Bahrain’s medal was the national team’s largest-ever achieved in a single weightlifting championship at the Asian or world levels, and across all age categories including seniors, juniors, and youth, according to the BWF.
At the end of the competition, Bahrain finished as the top-ranked Arab nation on both the junior and youth final medal tables.
In the junior table, Bahrain ranked eighth overall with their five medals – Grueso’s three gold and Murillo’s two bronze. Hosts Kazakhstan were overall champions with 27 total medals, including nine gold, eight bronze, and 10 silver. Thailand followed with 15 (six gold, seven silver, two bronze), and China were third on 12 (six gold, five silver, one bronze). Also ranked ahead of Bahrain were South Korea, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Chinese Taipei.
On the youth final medal table, Bahrain were also eighth with their three medals – Murillo’s two gold and his silver medal. The Kazakhs were also top in this ranking with 23 medals, including 12 gold, four silver, and seven bronze. Vietnam and India followed with an identical 16-medal haul, with each claiming eight gold medals, six silver, and two bronze. Classified ahead of Bahrain were South Korea, China, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia. Bahrain’s team in Astana also featured lifter Adrian Bonilla. The delegation was headed by BWF president Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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