Arakel Mirozyan of Armenia has swept the Gold medal in the 69kg category at the European Junior Weightlifting Championships in Albania to give Armenia its' first Gold medal on the same day that Liana Manukyan brought home the Bronze in the women's 58kg category. The Medals are the first for the Armenian team who have aspirations of coming up with the most medals in the tournament.

In the first day of competition Anna Govelyan failed to lift an amount that would have at least given her a bronze on her first three attempts leaving her out of the competition. In the boys' 62kg category Rubik Mamoyan and Zorik Poghosyan finished in 5th and 8th place respectively. Armenia will look to bring home more medals, as we will have Heghine Yepremian in the 63kg category tomorrow, followed by Aghasi Aghasyan(77kg), Aghvan Meikyan and Aram Andrikyan in the 85kg competitions the following day. Armenia will close out the tournament with a couple of favourites in Sevak Sahakyan and Ruben Aleksanyan in teh 105kg and 105kg+ categories on the last day of competiton.

With the recent growth of weightlifting prowess in Armenia as evidenced by the three bronze medals from the 2008 Olympic Games, Armenia will try to establish a foothold as one of the top weightlifting nations in the world for years to come. Team Armenia won the 2007 and 2008 European Championships with the most number of Gold medals in both competitions at the senior level.

Stay tuned for further results.