Thornton named Atlas Youth Athlete of the Month

Young Weightlifter Tenishia Thornton has been awarded the Atlas Youth Athlete of the month Award for November 2020. This was the second time that the 15-year-old athlete managed to win this award after she had claimed the March 2020 accolade.

Thornton in November added a piece of history for Maltese weightlifting as she became the first Maltese athlete to win medals in an IWF world event.

The Maltese weightlifter competed in the 49kg category where she finished with claiming a silver medal in the snatch category with a lift of 71kg and an overall bronze medal in the final classification after she had lifted an 84kg lift in the clean and jerk.

Due to the COVID-19 situation, the Youth World Cup of Weightlifting was held online with the participation of 17 athletes.

In the competition, Thornton successfully lifted all her snatches attempts at 68kg, 70kg and 71kg respectively.

In the clean and jerk she started off with a successful 80kg lift after which she moved to an 84kg attempt which she missed narrowly. Thornton eventually secured this lift in her third and last attempt to finish off with an overall total of 155kg.

The final classification saw Arriaga Velez from Mexico claiming gold with a total of 159kg followed by silver medalist Alvarez Loez from Columbia with a 156kg total.

This was the 11th award being awarded to a local youth athlete in the series of this joint initiative by Atlas Insurance and the Malta Sports Journalists Association to recognise the efforts by young sports athletes and thus encouraging them to continue to train harder in their respective sports disciplines.

Each month, the Malta Sports Journalists Association and Atlas Insurance encourage athletes under the age of 21 and their respective associations and federations to submit nominations for this award. Nominations can be submitted via email on info@maltasportsjournalists.com.