Rio 2016: Weightlifter Sara Ahmed gives Egypt its first win with a bronze

Egypt’s Sara Ahmed finally broke her country Egypt’s duck by finishing in the third place in the 69kg finals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The 18-year-old successfully lifted 112kg in her third snatch attempt, before which she scored a 143kg in the clean-and-jerk section of the competition to get a total of 255kg.

Meanwhile, Chinese Xiang Yanmei won the gold with 261kg, and Zhazira Zhapparkul of Kazakhstan won silver with a total of 259kg.

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This has been a great year for Ahmed who won the 2015 World Youth Weightlifting Championships in Lima, also in the 69kg category, before finishing in fourth place at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships. She made her country proud by becoming the second-ever female athlete to win a medal for Egypt.

Ahmed also made Muslim athletes the world over proud, wearing a full-length unitard and a sports hijab thanks to a 2011 change to International Weightlifting Federation rules that women with dress restrictions to participate in the Olympics.

As reported by ‘Huffington Post’, Ahmed said on Wednesday that she hopes her medal victory in Rio de Janeiro will encourage more women to take up the sport. “A new weightlifting generation can be born, a new beginning,” she said.

Also read: Egypt’s women’s volleyball team competes in hijabs; loses match, wins fans

Ahmed was awarded a silver in the London Olympics 2012 in the 69kg weightlifting category when the top three athletes at the 2012 Games failed tests for banned substances.

Three cheers for the women of the world.

Feature image credit: Huffington Post