Watch: Yazmin Zammit Stevens named in Team Malta for Tokyo Olympics

Weightlifter Yazmin Zammit Stevens’ name has been added to the list of athletes representing Malta in the forthcoming XXXII Games of the Olympiad in Tokyo.

Zammit Stevens will compete in the 64kg category.

The Maltese lifter, a recipient of an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship for the past three years, has been competing at international level since 2015, including the European Championships as well as the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018.

Zammit Stevens will be the first Maltese female weightlifter to compete in the Olympic Games.

“I am still under shock at this announcement. I have given my total commitment towards the possibility of this opportunity. The road to Tokyo has been hard, particularly because of the pandemic, which hindered international competition,” Zammit Steven said.

“Thankfully I have been able to train and compete abroad in the past months, which certainly have put me back into the swing of things.”

Zammit Stevens’ participation was also made possible through the IOC Tripartite Commission (invitation places) which offers National Olympic Committees the opportunity to apply to send top athletes in their respective sport who have not managed to qualify.

She joins shooter Eleanor Bezzina and badminton Player Matthew Abela who also qualified through this programme.

“We are very pleased to see that Malta will be competing in weightlifting and to see the Maltese contingent slowly building up,” Julian Pace Bonello, the Maltese Olympic Committee president said.

“This is the second time that Malta has competed in weightlifting but Yazmin’s participation will put her on Maltese history books as being the first Maltese female weightlifter to compete in the Games.”

The 2020 Summer Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, between 23 July and 8 August 2021.