Teen Grabs Bronze

The Age

Friday March 17, 2006

By DAVID REED

TEENAGE weightlifter Erika Yamasaki claimed Australia's first medal of the 18th Commonwealth Games yesterday, then promptly downed enough food and drink to give her a stomach ache.

Yamasaki - whose father is Japanese and who worked as a barmaid until mid-2005 - took bronze in the women's 48-kilogram category, in the process stamping her name at the forefront of the next generation of weightlifting talent.

As expected, the 48kg event was won by Indian veteran Kunjarani Devi, 38, who overcame a one-kilogram deficit after the snatch to overpower young Canadian Marilou Dozois-Provest.

But it was the fun-loving 18-year-old Queenslander who captured the imagination of the opening-day crowd at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Yamasaki was ecstatic with her effort in breaking a swag of national records she set at the selection trials in December.

"It was unreal just to make it to the Commonwealth Games team and to get on the podium is unbelievable," Yamasaki said.

"This is the biggest competition I have ever been in, so I was a bit nervous."

Yamasaki's snatch of 69kg broke the Australian record by two kilograms, the same amount that her 87kg clean and jerk increased the national mark. It also created the new total lift benchmark of 153kg.

But she did it tough on the way in, having to drop from the 53kg class to below 48kg. Thus the eating binge immediately after the event.

Yamasaki took aim at the 48kg category last year and used several dieting strategies, culminating in what is known as a non-residual diet - eating food that moves quickly through the body - during the past week. She made yesterday's weigh-in by just 0.05kg, coming in at 47.95kg.

The silver medallist Dozois-Provest was just as bubbly after surprising herself with her second place.

The 19-year-old from Montreal was in a plane that overran the runway at Toronto last August, although she escaped with only an injured knee from the evacuation.

"It burst into flames and we really thought we were dying," Dozois-Provest recalled. "There was nothing left of the plane."

But the Canadian flew home to Montreal the following day and showed similar fortitude in her battle with Devi yesterday. Dozois-Prevost was leading by one kilogram after a snatch of 73kg to Devi's 72kg, with Yamasaki in third place.

Devi came back hard, but the Canadian forced the Indian to create a new Commonwealth Games record with the final lift of the competition - a clean and jerk of 94kg - to claim the gold.

Both youngsters remained in awe of the winner Devi, but Dozois-Provest said the Indian gold medallist from Manchester was now beatable.

Devi took gold at Manchester but tested positive to a banned substance at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where she came in fourth. Devi also tested positive at the 2002 Asian championships.

Malaysia grabbed the second weightlifting gold of the Games last night in the men's 56kg category, when Mohd Faizal Baharom produced an awesome series of lifts. Baharom equalled the snatch Games record with a lift of 115kg, before streaking away in the clean and jerk to win by 10kg from Indian policeman Vicky Batta.

Baharom had a crack at the Games record total with his final lift after the result was decided but his final total of 255kg was five kilograms outside the Games record.

WOMEN'S 48KG DIVISION

GOLD Kunjarani Devi (India)

SILVER Marilou Dozois-Prevost (Canada)

BRONZE Erika Yamasaki (Australia)