Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
History-making Australian weightlifter Eileen Cikamatana will compete for her third-straight Commonwealth Games medal in Glasgow.
The 26-year-old powerhouse is the only Games gold medallist in the 12-person Australian weightlifting team named on Friday.
Cikamatana became the first woman to win Commonwealth Games gold for two countries in an individual sport when she dominated the 87kg event at the 2022 Birmingham edition.
Four years earlier, she won gold for Fiji in the 90kg event at the Gold Coast Games.
In 2019, Cikamatana switched to Australia because of a local dispute involving Fiji’s weightlifting governing body.
She made her Olympic debut two years ago as one of the medal favourites in the 81kg event, narrowly missing on bronze and finishing fourth.
Cikamatana, who was in tears after the near-miss, will lift in the 86kg event at Glasgow.
Ridge Barredo will also compete at his third Commonwealth Games, in the 110kg event.
Kiana Elliott (63kg), Brenna Kean (53kg) and Suamili Nanai (110kg+) are other Birmingham team members going to their second Games.
The seven Games debutants include two women still eligible for junior competition – 19-year-old Ashley Kolomoisky (58kg) and Chloe Perkins (48kg), who is 20.
Isabella Andueza (77kg), Ryven Ewing (88kg), Nya Hayman (69kg), Oliver Saxton (94kg and Rory Scott (79kg) are the other first-time selections.
