Retrospective: Junior and Masters Raw Hungarian Championships

On Saturday, Sárbogárd hosted the Junior and Masters Raw Hungarian Championships, where 114 athletes competed. Many good results were achieved at the competition, and János Cserna's 226 kg press is an unofficial European record.

On the occasion of the Fejér county event, we talked about the recent past, present, and future of domestic powerlifting with Imre Fehér, who worked as vice president of the Hungarian Powerlifting Association between 2004 and 2020, and served as a jury in Sárbogárd.

"It was a very good competition, there were no problems, things went smoothly, the organization is of an international standard," stated Imre Fehér of Prémium Média & For the interest of Sport Management. "Unfortunately, we lost our president last year, but the boys continued to work 110 percent, otherwise the sport would have started to decline. The number of 45 member organizations tripled in one year. We had an unprecedented quantity and quality of competitors. At first, I thought that many people entered only because of covid, the competition license, so that they could train, but fortunately, this did not happen," the international judge and sports coach evaluated the past period.

"The competitors are satisfied with the organization, medals and cups. We have tools that can be used anywhere. That's why there will be a bench press European championship here next year, and in 2023 they want to bring the masters European championship to Hungary. The settlement will be awarded to those countries that have the appropriate technical conditions."

"The competitors are satisfied with the organization, medals and cups. We have tools that can be used anywhere. That's why there will be a bench press European championship here next year, and in 2023 they want to bring the masters European championship to Hungary. The settlement will be awarded to those countries that have the appropriate technical conditions."

"Our problem before was that the association could not organize competitions because it did not have the money for it. This is no longer a problem thanks to sponsors and increasing government subsidies. This is also due to the fact that the number of competitors is increasing. Very good specialists work in supply, which is very important. I see that people are smiling, they are happy to come to our competitions, and the results are getting better and better. I think that within a few years we will be able to establish ourselves internationally. We are already good at the bench press, we have world champions and European champions, powerlifting is still somewhat lagging behind."

Imre Fehér said that until now the judges performed their task in social work, but now the association can choose who can come, and more money goes to other important areas.

"We can spend much more money on doping tests. We have doubled the number of tests, 10-20 people are taken for testing, and luckily the results are negative. It is also important for sponsors that the sport is clean. We broadcast the competitions live on the Internet, but now commercial TV is also winking at the sport. I can say that the Hungarian Powerlifting Association is a good investment," he concluded.