Pulsan powers on

 POWERLIFTER Linda Pulsan is on track to claim gold at the Pacific Games in July after conquering the Pacific Invitational in Melbourne over the weekend. 

The 44-year-old, who won gold at the last Games in Noumea in 2011 said she considered her win in the Victorian capital the best of her career so far. 

Pulsan is the Oceania and the Pacific women’s champion in the 72kg division. 

“This would be the best performance so far because I competed against the best in the region at this invitational competition,” Pulsan said from the Gold Coast yesterday.

The Manus woman will continue her training in the southern Queensland city until the end of June when she returns home to defend her Games title.

The meet staged at the Melbourne Convention Centre saw three competitions run concurrently — the Australian National Championships, the Pacific Invitational and the Oceania Championships.

Pulsan, pictured, said she derived particular satisfaction from being the only Papua New Guinea competitor to be invited to the meet and her performance saw her qualify for the World Championships in Finland later in the year.

“I’m so happy to have won the gold medal in my division (72kg).

“I was awarded the number one ranking in the Pacific (72kg) and the best overall female lifter at the championship. They gave me two trophies for that,” an excited Pulsan said.

Pulsan bench-pressed 102.5kg, dead-lifted 195kg and squatted 180kg to finish ahead of her contemporaries at the invitational competition.

“I feel I’m building-up nicely for the Pacific Games.

“I’m reasonably confident I can repeat the performance in July,” Pulsan said.

“Although I didn’t break any records, it was business as usual and that was good enough to finish on top.

“This is a big achievement for me and I will continue training here in the Gold Coast up until the Games, but I will probably return home for a short visit for two or three days at the end of May.”

Pulsan said she trained every day at the Sports Super Centre doing multiple sessions a day but after the effort of the Melbourne meet, had tapered off slightly on her return.

“I was training three-times-a-day every day, when I first came down here on March 3, and I’m still going to do that as I get ready for the Pacific Games but since I just got back from Melbourne, I have only done two sessions a day but that’s going to change by next week.”

Male lifter Kenny Naime won gold in the 74kg division in the Oceania competition, while the other four lifters won individual medals in their categories in their categories. 

The other six lifters arrived back into the country on Monday and continue their training at the National High Performance Centre in Port Moresby. 

Powerlifters are only awarded one medal, while weightlifters are given a medal for the clean-and-jerk, snatch and total.

Results: Women – Dobi Mea 52kg bronze, Linda Pulsan 72kg gold, Meteng Wak 84kg silver; Men – Kalau Andrew 59kg silver, Kenny Naime 74kg gold, Vagi Henry 120kg silver, Anderson K’Mangela 74kg.