Kazakh weightlifting team to win medals at Rio Olympics without former champions, says coach
RIO DE JANEIRO. KAZINFORM - Kazakhstan's national weightlifting team will clinch medals at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro even without former champions, head coach Alexei Ni claims.
"Although our champions [Ilya Ilyin, Zulfiya Chinshanlo, Maiya Maneza, Svetlana Podobedova] don't participate in this year's Olympics, we will win medals anyway. Our weightlifting team is definitely not weak. The most important thing is to avoid injuries during pre-Olympic training. Too bad, our champions who hauled four medals in weightlifting in London won't participate in the Rio Olympics. But it is too early to write off our weightlifters because there are no stars on the national team," Alexei Ni told Kazinform correspondent Kunsultan Otarbai in Rio de Janeiro.
As for the recent doping scandal, Ni said he has no time to think about it.
Margarita Yeliseyeva will be the first Kazakhstani weightlifter to compete at the Rio Olympics. She will partake in the Women's 48kg event scheduled for 7:00p.m. on August 6.