Morgan cops gold in deadlift; eighth overall

Overcoming an unexpected delay caused by hurricane Sandy to his goal of competing at the World Open Powerlifting Championships, Randolph Morgan captured the gold medal in the deadlift, mere hours after arriving for the competition.
Competing in Puerto Rico, Morgan had a commanding lift of 330kgs/727.65lbs to cop the medal ahead of Bulgaria’s Todor Vasilev (325kgs/716.62lbs) and Ecuador’s Jose Castillo (322.5kgs / 711.11lbs).
Hurricane Sandy left Morgan and his accompanying coach, Denroy Livan, stranded in New York on Monday with no hope of arriving in Aguadilla Puerto Rico the same day. However, frantic efforts by the Federation’s official travel agent, Millennia Travel Agency, saw the duo re-routing to San Juan on the first available flight on Wednesday night.
The pair arrived in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, at 04:00 hours on Thursday, leaving Morgan with just under nine hours to get himself in ready for competition.
With the 83kg weight class attracting over 24 of the world’s best lifters, it was always going to be tough, but digging deep into his reserves, along with his indomitable never-say-die attitude, Morgan managed to dominate Group B, featuring the lifters ranked 12th to 24th.
Although putting in decent efforts in the squat and the bench press, it was not until the deadlift that all eyes were unavoidably placed on him as he commanded the audience’s attention with his second and third lifts.
In the process, he smashed his own national and Caribbean record of 322.5kgs. His final deadlift effort of 330kgs was good enough to clinch Guyana’s first World Open individual gold medal.
Overall winners, Eugeney Vasyukov of Russia (925kgs/2,039.62lbs); Andrei Naniev of Ukraine (915kgs/2,017,15lbs) and Volodymyr Rysiyev (910kgs/2,006.55lbs) emphasised the dominance of the Eastern European Bloc.
Morgan’s best overall total of 850kgs/1,874.25lbs surpassed even Guyana’s heavyweight champion, ‘Big’ John Edwards’, recent best total of 845kgs/1,863.22lbs.
With a bodyweight of 82.03kgs to Edwards’ 116kgs, it made Morgan undisputedly Guyana’s top gun, pound for pound.
In an invited comment, President of the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation, Peter Green, said he is extremely elated that the federation’s goals and plans implemented in 2008 under his leadership is bearing fruit, with lifters Winston Stoby, Morgan, Edwards and Dawn Barker leading the way at the world level, followed closely by a host of young and determined regional top guns, led by Vijai Rahim, Gumendra Shewdas and Anis Ade Thomas, amongst others.
“Had Barker not picked up an injury prior to the Worlds, Guyana would have been shouting from the roof tops about her Girl Power! Even more satisfying is the emergence of the settled position of a capable coach with competent managerial skills in the form of another young man by the name of Denroy Livan. Livan has proven himself to be extremely capable in providing the positive, calming influence and efficiency in preparing the athletes before their lifts,” Green said.
He added, “Guyana definitely is the winner, having the opportunity to showcase herself on the world stage, along with the federation’s untiring efforts at promoting the country as a Sports Tourism destination. At this year’s Congress, I took the opportunity to have ongoing discussions with various member federations lobbying for sports assistance in the form of training and equipment. I was favorably received and several proposals were discussed for implementation by 2013. It has definitely been agreed that International Championships will be given to Guyana, once the necessary infrastructure and equipment is in place.”