Thélermont is ranked 14th worldwide in the 69-kg category

 SPORTS Lady of the Year, Janet Thélermont have written a new script in the history of Seychelles weightlifting after becoming the first Seychellois female lifter to feature on the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) ranking.

Thélermont who captured a silver medal in the 69-kg category of the recent Afro-Asian Games, held in Hyderabad, India is actually ranked 14th with 225 points on the IWF Rankings released earlier this month.

Reached by telephone late last week Thélermont said that she was expecting to feature on the list.

"I was expecting to feature on the list as I had registered some excellent results of late. I was not expecting to do so well though. I was predicting to finish amongst the top 30 lifters," said Thélermont who also won three silver medals at this year's All Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria in October.

She added that the results was the fruit of her hard work over the years.

"I have always taken my training seriously. I have made a lot of sacrifices over the years and I think that my efforts are being paid off," she said.

Triple gold medallists at the Sixth Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) in Mauritius earlier this year, Thélermont feels that her latest achievement will broaden her chance of retaining her Sportswoman of the Year title.

"I think that the fact that I'm 14th in world in the 69-kg category would widen my chances of winning the Sportslady of the Year Award for the second consecutive year," she concluded.

Chinese Liu Chunhong  leads the ranking with 265 points.

She is followed in second place by Russian Valentina Popov with 260, while Pawina Thongsuk of Thailand is third with five points less (255).

Thélermont is also placed first on the African continent and the Indian Ocean region.

Egyptian Asma Abouelwafa is the other African to appear on the ranking list and she is placed in the 20th position.

C. J.