Yavniel Yatali and Kezia Crooks were crowned the Open Di­vi­sion cham­pi­ons when the T&T Pow­er­lift­ing Fed­er­a­tion (TTPF) held its Na­tion­al Cham­pi­onships at the Ur­ban Fit­ness Gym in Trinci­ty on the week­end (Feb­ru­ary 24-25).

Both led a wave of sweep­ing changes, with two new cham­pi­ons tak­ing over the se­nior open di­vi­sion for men and women, as well as the ju­nior di­vi­sions.

Yatali soared to vic­to­ry in the men's open by lift­ing a to­tal of 845 kgs/1832.89 lbs, to earn 101.12 In­ter­na­tion­al Pow­er­lift­ing Fed­er­a­tion (IFP) points. And in do­ing so, he de­throned Caleb Thomas-Alex­is, the win­ner the last time the cham­pi­onships were held in 2022. In fact, Alex­is-Thomas claimed the win­ner's crown in both the men's se­niors and ju­niors cat­e­gories.

Yatali's per­for­mance in a field of over 38 per­form­ers left spec­ta­tors in awe as he ef­fort­less­ly con­quered each lift, of­fi­cials have said.

On the women's side, Crooks dom­i­nat­ed her com­peti­tors with a to­tal lift of 475 kgs/1047 lbs (95.12 IPF Points), to se­cure her place as the over­all cham­pi­on.

The Ju­nior di­vi­sion al­so wit­nessed an in­cred­i­ble dis­play of tal­ent from the young pow­er­lifters. Based on IPF points, Joseph Josi­ah Mc Don­ald claimed vic­to­ry in the male cat­e­go­ry with 96.28 IPF points, lift­ing a to­tal of 812.5 kgs/1791 lbs, while in the ju­nior women's equiv­a­lent, Gen­e­sis Prescod pre­vailed with 78.92 IPF points, lift­ing a to­tal of 377 kgs/832 lbs.

The Sub-ju­nior di­vi­sion al­so show­cased a num­ber of promis­ing tal­ent for fu­ture com­pe­ti­tions, as Aidan Ma­haraj emerged tri­umphant, while Naeem Ali Bidar, the youngest par­tic­i­pant at 15 years, placed sec­ond with re­mark­able to­tals and IPF points of 467.5 kgs (69.27 IPF Points) and 362.5 kgs (53.75 IPF points), re­spec­tive­ly.

Mean­while, in the Mas­ter's di­vi­sion which fea­tured ex­pe­ri­enced ath­letes over 40 years who con­tin­ue to ex­cel in their sport, Adri­an Brown, who is pres­i­dent of the TTPF, se­cured first place among the men with 82.25 IPF points, which summed up a phe­nom­e­nal to­tal lift of 665 kgs/1466 lbs.

Among the women in this di­vi­sion, Ar­lene Spoon­er-Taitt earned an ac­cu­mu­lat­ed amount of 67.104 IPF points for an im­pres­sive to­tal weight of 312.5 kgs/688.75 lbs.

Af­ter the event, the TTBF pres­i­dent con­grat­u­lat­ed the par­tic­i­pants for their ded­i­ca­tion and com­mit­ment to the sport and ex­tend­ed his grat­i­tude to the ath­letes, vol­un­teers, and sup­port­ers who made the event a re­sound­ing suc­cess.

Re­sults

Over­all

Name*Di­vi­sion*To­tal*IPF Points

Kezia Crooks*Women Raw Open*475 kg/1047 lbs*95.117

Gen­e­sis Prescod*Women Raw Ju­niors*377.5 kg/832 lbs*78.920

Ar­lene Spoon­er-Taitt*Women Raw Mas­ters*312.5 kg/688.75 lbs* 67.104

Yavniel Yatali*Men Raw Open*845 kg/1862.89 lbs*101.121

Joseph Josi­ahM­c­Don­ald*Men Raw Ju­nior*812.5 kg/1791 lbs*96.277

Adri­an Brown*Men Raw Mas­ters*665 kg/1466 lbs*82.250

Women Di­vi­sion

Raw Ju­nior

Weight class 69: 1 Gen­e­sis Prescod

Weight class 43: 1 Claris­sa Choy Sing

Weight class 84+: 1 Mi­ran­da Soomarie

Raw Mas­ters

Cat­e­go­ry (weight class)

Raw Mas­ter I (69): 1 Ar­lene Spoon­er-Taitt

Raw Mas­ter I ( 84+): 1 Rhon­da Sanchez; 2 Ali­cia Mitchell

Raw Mas­ter IV (57 ): 1 Lois Sprang

Raw Open

Weight class 47: 1 Ruth Li; 2 Claris­sa Choy Sing

Weight class 52: 1 Mi­ahh Green­away

Weight class 57: 1 Jerneil Nivet; 2 Lois Sprang

Weight class 63: 1 Charis­sa Grant

Weight class 69: 1 Gen­e­sis Prescod, 2 Ar­lene Spoon­er-Taitt 69

Weight class 76: 1 Kezia Crooks, 2 Re­neece Ster­ling, 3 Maria Kel­ly

Weight class 84: 1 Quinell Smith 84

Weight class 84+: 1 Zahra Pa­dia, 2 Mi­ran­da Soomarie, 3 Rhon­da Sanchez

Men Di­vi­sion

Equipped Open (93): 1 Dale D Hosten

Raw Di­vi­sion

Raw Sub-ju­nior

Weight class 74: 1 Aidan Ma­haraj, 2 Naeem Ali Bidar

Raw Ju­nior

Weight class 59: 1 An­tho­ny Bernard

Weight class 66: 1 Reshon Su­perville

Weight class 74: 1 Joshua Joseph, 2 Dar­ius De­onar­ine

Weight class 83: 1 Adam Qayyum De Leon, 2 Vinay Wong

Weight class 93: 1 Jo­hann Rod­ney, 2 Jae-Hwa Lee Wing, 3 Dil­lon Kow­lessar

Weight class 120: 1 Joseph Mc­don­ald, 2 Joel Duke

Raw Mas­ter I (93): 1 Kevin Williams

Raw Mas­ter I (105): 1 Adri­an Bar­ry Brown

Raw Mas­ter II (105): 1 Lawrence Mar­lon Bel­fon

Raw Open

Weight class 59: 1 An­tho­ny Bernard, 2 Shay Grant

Weight class 66: 1 Reshon Su­perville, 2 Jer­ay Par­ris, 3 Dim­itri Win­ston Chote

Weight class 74: 1 Krys­tan Ho­sein, 2 Joshua Joseph, 3 Cre­lan Ma­son

Weight class 83: 1 Cameron Joseph, 2 Adam Qayyum De Leon, 3 Mack­el Ramjohn

Weight class 93: 1 Make­si Leach, 2 Jo­hann Rod­ney, 3 Jonathan James

Weight class 105: 1 Caleb Thomas Alex­is, 2 Rom­mel Luke, 3 Shaquille Nel­son

Weight class 120: 1 Yavniel Yatali, 2 Joseph Josi­ah Mc­Don­ald, 3 Joel Duke

Weight class 120+: 1 Jor­dan Placide