Yesterday, the IWF announced the locations for the 2019 Junior World Championships and Youth World Championships.
The IWF’s executive board recently met in Tokyo, Japan, where they unanimously decided the 2019 Junior World Championships hosting rights will go to the Fiji Weightlifting Association. They awarded the 2019 Youth World Championships hosting rights to USA Weightlifting, and the competition is now scheduled for Anaheim, California.
[Don’t miss out on the 2017 Junior World Championships, which run from June 15th-23rd. Check out this article on how to watch, who to look for, and full schedule.]
USA Weightlifting President Ursula Garza Papandrea said of the allocation, “In our aim to become a strong partner of the IWF we appreciate the trust they put in us to host another event.”
USA Weightlifting’s CEO Phil Andrews is working towards making Anaheim a consistent IWF hosting location. After Penang, Malaysia withdrew from hosting the 2017 IWF World Championships last October, the competition was re-allocated to the US, and the event will take place this November in Anaheim.
The 2019 Junior World Championships will be held in the city of Suva, which is the capitol of Fiji. The press release stated, “It is the first time since 1993 (Melbourne, AUS) that a country from the Oceania region will organize an IWF World Championships and first time ever in the Pacific region.”
Fiji may be small, but their weightlifting presence has grown in recent years. Last year, they hosted the Continental Qualification event for the Rio 2016 Olympics, and held multiple regional events.
[The 2018 Junior World Championships will be held in Pyongyang, North Korea, but USA Weightlifting is still unsure if they’ll be in attendance.]
There will be no 2018 Youth World Championships due to the Youth Olympics being held October 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Feature image from @iwfnet Instagram page.
