Emirati weightlifter Aisha Al Balushi qualifies for Rio Olympics

Emirates Weightlifting Federation (EWF) officials have announced 24-year-old Emirati weightlifter Aisha Al Balushi will be representing the UAE at the Rio Olympics in August.

The UAE female weightlifting team was handed a spot for the Olympics by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).

This decision had come after the IWF Executive Meeting, where the board stripped Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, North Korea, Russia of two quotas, while and Belarus, Romania, and Uzbekistan will each have one representative in Brazil, following multiple doping cases.

Al Balushi will participate in the 58kg weight category.

She was among the seven-athlete who took part in the Asian Championships in Uzbekistan in April.

At a press conference where EWF announced Al Balushi's name, the other weightlifters were also present.

One of the Emirati weightlifter Amna AL Haddad wrote in her blog, "Our efforts – as a team – is the reason we qualified. Each member has their own story in this sport, their struggle, their success. We consist of 7 girls, from different age groups, the younger being 14 to the eldest (myself) 26."

This is the second consecutive time when UAE has earned a spot at the Olympics in the female weightlifting category. In 2012 London Olympics, Khadija Mohammed had represented her country in the 75kg weight class.

Al Balushi has been representing the UAE in several regional and world competition since 2009.

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