Seven men and women will represent New Zealand in weightlifting at this year's Commonwealth Games.
Delhi 2010 will be the first Commonwealth Games for Philippine-born Lou Guinares, the squad's youngest member. The 20-year-old finished in third place in his weight-class at the Oceania Championships in Fiji in May and is considered a fast-developing young star.
Mark Spooner, 25, is one of the squad's more experienced members, finishing 21st in the 62-69kg class at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. At the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games he claimed sixth position in his category.
Richard Patterson is also attending his second Commonwealth Games, after winning his way to a reputable fourth in his weight-class at Melbourne 2006. At Beijing, the 27-year-old finished 21st in his 77kg category.
Another medals challenger is 23-year-old Stanislav Chalaev, who emigrated from Russia when he was 12. He placed second at the 2010 Oceania Championships and finished third at the Commonwealth Championships in 2009.
New Zealand has a successful Commonwealth women's weightlifting track record, including the silver medal and two bronzes won by Olivia Baker at the Manchester Games in 2002, and a third-placing for Keisha-Dean Soffe at the Melbourne 2006 Games.
This year, New Zealand has two new contenders: Kate Howard and Tracey Lambrechs.
Delhi 2010 will be Howard's third Commonwealth Games; she represented Wales at the 2002 and 2006 events. Since emigrating, Howard, 31, has reinforced her position in the New Zealand squad with a first placing at the Oceania 2010 Championship.
Lambrechs, 25, is attending her first Commonwealth Games.
When and where
There are eight weight categories for men and seven weight categories for women. All events will be held at the J.N. Sports Complex from 4-12 October.
NZ team
Men: Lou Guinares (under-56kg, Auckland), Cameron Sinclair (under-62kg, Auckland), Mark Spooner (under-69kg, Auckland), Richard Patterson (under-85kg, Auckland), Stanislav Chalaev (under-105kg, Auckland).
Women: Kate Howard (under-53kg, Auckland), Tracey Lambrechs (over-75kg, Auckland).
Athletes' profiles sourced from www.olympic.org.nz . Event information sourced from http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/
