Nepal Weightlifting Association on Sunday finalised the dates for the Senior Asian Women’s and Men’s Weightlifting Championship to be held here on June 22-30. The event will see lifters from 35 countries vie for eight gold medals in men’s and seven in women’s categories. “The championship is a milestone in context to development of the game in our country as it is going to be a world class event,” said the NWA General Secretary Partha Sarathi Sen Gupta. “This is not just the biggest tournament in weightlifting but one of the biggest in general considering that Asia is a weightlifting powerhouse.” The event will be held at the Nepal Army Physical Fitness Centre in Lalitpur. Nepal will field lifters in all weight group categories in both men’s and women’s section, informed the NWA. The NWA President Ratan Tandan said that successful hosting of the championship will ensure that Nepal get to host the World Junior Championship as well. “We are working hard to make the tournament a huge success so that it will open doors for other big tournaments in future,” said Tandan. NWA hoped that Nepali lifters will earn much-needed exposure from the meet. “We hope the tournament will be a very good exposure for our players,” said Gupta. The estimated costs of the tournament is Rs 14.21 million. “We will raise 10 percent of the total costs from players’ registration and another 45 percent from advertisement. The rest will be covered from their annual sports budget.