Around 360 athletes from more than 60 countries will be competing in the Gulf, including all 20 current senior world record holders and more than 30 medallists from London 2012.

The Championships also see the start of the qualification process on the road to Rio 2016.

One of the biggest attractions during the week-long event is expected to be the all-Iranian heavyweight battle between Mansour Pourmirzaei and Siamand Rahman, who are both aiming to break the 300 kilogramme mark in the over 107kg category.

Pourmirzaei currently holds the world record in the event with a lift of 276kg, which saw him take gold at last year's IPC Asian Open Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Reigning Paralympic champion Rahman has claimed to have lifted the weight on numerous occasions during training and looks like the only man who will pose a threat to his compatriot, according to the man himself.

"I have had a plan for 10 years to reach that goal (breaking 300kg mark)," Pourmirzaei told paralympic.org.

"I do not feel that there is anyone else apart from Siamand that can challenge me."

Another man on the lookout for a world record is Egypt's double Paralympic champion Sherif Othman who holds the over 56kg mark with a lift of 205kg.

"If everything goes well I will break my world record and I am aiming for over 200kg," said Othman who claimed gold last time out at the 2010 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur.

"If it's less than 200kg I will be very disappointed because my training is very good."

Sherif Othman will be looking for another World Championship crown in Dubai ©Getty Images



Britain's London 2012 representative Ali Jawad will be looking to continue his fine form which saw him take the under 59kg Asian crown last year with a world record lift of 185.5kg.

On the women's side, Nigeria's Paralympic champions Loveline Obiji and Esther Oyema will be highly fancied in the under 86kg and under 55kg categories respectively.

Egyptian world record holder Fatma Omar and Mexico's Paralympic champion Amalia Perez will go head-to-head in the under 61kg class, while in the under 41kg class, another champion from London 2012 will be out to add a world title in the form of Nazmiye Muslu of Turkey.

Muslu won the European Open Championships in Aleksin, Russia, last year with a world record lift of 100kg but will face stiff competition from current world number one Zoe Newson of Great Britain.

The 2014 IPC Powerlifting World Championships are due to take place from tomorrow until next Friday (April 11) and all the action will be streamed live on the IPC website.

A full competition schedule is available here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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