Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq: “To succeed, you need to think outside the box!”

Always serene in his chair, he speaks in a fluent way, without hesitations. He doesn’t take any calls or reply to any messages during the interview. At 33, Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq is about to accomplish the unthinkable: to hold the first-ever World Championship of an Olympic sport in Bahrain. From December 5-15, Manama, the vibrant capital of the kingdom, will welcome the best athletes on the planet in the 2024 edition of the IWF World Championships.

Since March 2022 at the helm of the Bahrain Weightlifting Federation, Eshaq – most probably the youngest president of a national federation in the five continents – had a vision: “To really develop weightlifting in Bahrain, to be present in the Olympic Games, to host international major events, and to attract some of the most inspiring athletes to train and compete for our country”.

Less than three years later, the young leader can proudly say he ticked all the boxes. “We started with the Asian Weightlifting Championships in 2022, and thanks to the effort of the team and the support of the government and the Olympic Committee, it was an astounding success”.

Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq: “We want to organise the best World Championships ever!”

From that moment on, it became evident that the country was ready to raise the bar. “When the opportunity came in 2023 to host the world event, we jumped in. Never before has this country hosted a senior World Championship of an Olympic sport. So, we said: we must go for it,” Eshaq recalls.

After a successful presentation of the bid to the IWF Executive Board in June 2023, Bahrain was given “the blessing and the confidence” to host our International Federation’s showcase in this month of December. “Now, we cannot let them down and we must organise the best World Championships ever!”

Leading a meeting of the 2024 IWF World Championships Organising Committee

The unprecedented experience all the participants will certainly feel starts from the venue itself: three temporary tents erected where two months ago there was only sand. “Sometimes you need to take risks to succeed. People were telling me ‘You’re crazy’. We were here in the first week of October and we had not hit the ground! But we wanted a plot that was centrally located, so that the logistical operations (transport and accommodation for example) could be easier to manage. We finally found it, but I had many sleepless nights because two months before the event we were still on the sand. But with the support we received and the great team we have we were able to liaise with all governmental entities to first asphalt the land and then install the tents. It has been a huge challenge, but when you see the result now, all that worry was definitively compensated”.

During the Championships, Eshaq also intends to provide an unforgettable 10 days of competition for the athletes, coaches, officials, and spectators attending the event. Innovations in the sports presentation, TV production, lighting of the venue, and WR recognition are some of the novelties that will be presented in Manama. “Since June 2023 until now, every day I am thinking about these Championships. Every day, we have been brainstorming about it. You only get to host a World Championships once in a lifetime. I am happy we got this opportunity, so I said from the beginning that we need to make it special. We wanted to do things that hadn’t been done in previous editions of the Championships. Nothing is always perfect and mistakes can happen but we are really striving for excellence during this competition. We wanted basically to develop an athlete-centric approach!”

Checking the security aspects of the Championships’ venue

With a holistic view of the development of the sport, the Bahraini leader is clear: “The results should not only be on the platform, but also off the platform. To achieve the best, we must think outside the box”.

The 2024 IWF World Championships are the corollary of an intense work and effort that led to the presence of two athletes from Bahrain at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and even more importantly, the first medal ever for the country in weightlifting. Gor Minasyan earned bronze in the men’s +102kg and secured a place in the pantheon of great athletes in Bahrain. “By God’s grace, we were very happy to achieve this medal. It was a rollercoaster time in Paris – we started in the men’s 102kg with Lesman Montano. He was so close, but then missed out and finished sixth. But he was the first-ever lifter from Bahrain in the Olympics. And then we had Gor who put in on a fantastic performance – bronze medal and heaviest snatch. He became the first male medallist for Bahrain in the history of the Games and his success was also the first one outside the sport of athletics,” Eshaq underlines.  

After this unparalleled achievement, the weightlifting family in the nation had a solid ground “to lobby for even more”. The Bahrain Olympic Committee and the General Sports Authority have been pivotal in this development and were firmly behind the organisation of the IWF World Championships. “We wouldn’t be able to achieve what we achieved without this huge support, with no limitations. We have also a very dedicated and enthusiastic team, without whom this competition wouldn’t be a reality. In total we are 70/80 people, including volunteers and some experts in the set-up of previous IWF major events,” Eshaq explains.

With Gor Minasyan

The impact of this rapid progress is also reflected in the number of active athletes in the country – presently around 50, including men and women. “In 10 years, this number can be 500. Short-term goals were relatively easy to reach, but long-term ones – related to grassroots – will demand more time, effort, and resources. But all these positive achievements create an immense awareness around the sport and inspire a new generation of young lifters”. At the last IWF World Junior Championships in Leon, Bahrain had two athletes competing in Spain. “This is a new and extremely good situation for us!”

With some days to go before the start of the IWF major event, Eshaq remains optimistic about the prospect of a first medal ever in a senior World Championships on home soil for one of Bahrain’s lifters. “This would definitively be amazing!” For the time being, this huge organisation is already a strong asset in the nation’s portfolio to keep hosting major international competitions, s sports industry strategy that complements the one already put in place by the country’s authorities in the tourism sector. “Bahrain has always been a welcoming place, with a lot of history and culture. Combining that with the field of sports is the way to go”.

On December 16, when the majority of the participating teams will be returning home, Eshaq will not rest on his laurels. “The work is far from being finished. Next step: Los Angeles 2028. We want to be at those Olympics and be successful there!”

Pedro Adrega
IWF Communications