Halil Zorba’s quest for the Olympic weightlifting qualifying standard goes to the English Championships this weekend after he admitted complacency got the better of him at the Tri Nations Tournament.
The 23-year-old, who lives and trains in Crystal Palace, helped England retain the Tri Nations title against Norway and Sweden in Bristol last weekend but fell short of the 291kg B standard qualifying weight needed to reach this summer’s Games.
His lifts of 120kg in the snatch and 165kg in the clean and jerk gave him a total of 285kg which was enough to give him the senior men’s crown under the Sinclair points method – where an athlete’s weight is factored in to allow different weights to compete together.
He had two goes at 125kg in the snatch and 171kg in the clean and jerk but was left frustrated.
“I wasn’t too happy as I didn’t get the personal best I wanted and wasn’t even close to it,” he said.
“In the gym, I have been doing it regularly so I was shocked to miss them but maybe I just got complacent.
“It was a round robin system so between attempts you had 10 minutes wait so you would warm down and then warm up again so, in effect, you had three warm up sessions and that fatigues you quicker.
“But I am competing this weekend at the English Championships in Oldbury in the West Midlands and, hopefully, it will be better.”
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