Dora Afi Abotsi (born 22 February 1991) is a Ghanaian female

weightlifter Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

, competing in the 63 kg category and representing Ghana at international competitions. She competed at world championships, most recently at the

2009 World Weightlifting Championships The World Weightlifting Championships 2009 was held in Goyang, South Korea. The event took place from November 20 to November 29, 2009. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Ranking by Big (Total result) medals Ranking by all medals: Big ( ...

, and at several

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Weightlifting

She won a bronze medal at the 2006 African Weightlifting Championships, competing in the class, with the medals won by the team qualifying it for the world championships. She had been the only female member of the squad named for Morocco. Abotsi took part in the

Goyang Goyang (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province in the north of South Korea. It is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area, making Goyang one of Seoul's Satellite city, satellite cities. It is one of the largest cities in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, w ...

, South Korea, where she finished in 24th and last place in the women's class among those competitors who completed their lifts. Cameroon's

Marie Fegue Marie Josèphe Fegue (born 28 May 1991) is a Cameroonian-French weightlifter. Career She competed in the women's 69 kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a gold medal. She competed at world championships. In 2024, she co ...

and Sukanya Kunrit of Thailand were the only two competitors who failed to complete by the snatch and the clean and jerk rounds of the competition. Abotsi's overall score of 142 was over a hundred points lower than the winning score of 246 by Kazakh athlete

Maiya Maneza Maiya Salakharqyzy Maneza (; ; born 1 November 1985) is a Kazakhstani weightlifter. She initially won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 63 kg category by lifting a combined weight of 245 kg and set a new Olympic record ...

. However, her appearance at the Championships meant that she broke the record for the youngest competitor. She represented

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, India. Competing in the class, she finished in ninth place in the final with a total score of 169 points, ahead of Prossy Irene Nyanga of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. The gold medal was won by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Christine Girard Christine Girard (born January 3, 1985) is a Canadian weightlifter from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec (currently living in Gatineau, Quebec). She competes in the 63 kg division. Girard was the first Canadian female to win a medal in weightlifting w ...

with a score of 235 points. Abotsi captained the Ghanaian women's team at the African Weightlifting Championships in November 2013, held in Morocco. She herself won two bronze medals, while a total of 19 medals were won by the six members of both the male and female teams. She was one of the athletes trained by American coach Dr Kyle Calhoum Pierce during his tenure installing a new national coaching scheme for Ghana's weightlifters in 2014. Her improvement under Pierce was noted by Ben Nunoo Mensah, president of the Ghana Weightlifting Federation. She returned to the

that

year A year is a unit of time based on how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. In scientific use, the tropical year (approximately 365 Synodic day, solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds) and the sidereal year (about 20 minutes longer) ...

, competing in the class and placing sixth in the final with a combined weight lifted of .

Major results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abotsi, Dora Afi 1991 births Living people Ghanaian female weightlifters Place of birth missing (living people) Weightlifters at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Weightlifters at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Ghana