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National bench press competition kicked off in Yerevan on Saturday organized by the Powerlifting Federation of Armenia and Armenian National Federation of Disability Sport. The competition started with performances of disabled athletes. Later, professional athletes will take the floor.

Ahead of the official opening ceremony of the competition, the President of Powerlifting Federation of Armenia Levon Kocharyan talked to reporters, saying activities are underway to bring Armenian athletes to international arena.

“Athletes with best results in the Armenian championship will have the opportunity to perform abroad,” Kocharyan said, pointing to the recent success on international arena by Samvel Ghazaryan who took bronze at Arnold Classic 2019 open championship held in Barcelona in September.

Master of Sports in international powerlifting Sergey Asaturov, in turn, pointed to the growing number of disabled athletes and women participating in the tournament. In Asaturov’s words, 50 disabled athletes and 30 women applied this year to participate in the competition with figures doubled to compare with the previous years.

“Athletes with disability who received injuries while protecting the motherland demonstrate not only their spiritual but also physical strength. They also prove that disability may not be an obstacle for their future life, quite the opposite, may open up new opportunities for them. With their example they encourage and motivate others and us,” Asaturov said.