Tube Lines weightlifting trophy goes to north London teenager

Ali Jawad bench presses over twice his bodyweight to win best junior at British Wheelchair Weightlifting Championships

The Tube Lines Trophy for best junior at the British Wheelchair Weightlifting Championships was won this weekend by Ali Jawad, 18, from North London. Jawad, a double leg amputee, took the title by bench pressing 130kg, twice his own bodyweight.

Over 250 competitors from across Britain attended the National Wheelchair Championships at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire with 40 competing in the weightlifting championships. Tube Lines sponsored the junior award for the second year. The Tube Lines Trophy was presented by Tube Lines’ Mike Moran, lead construction manager, and Glyn Hibbert, construction manager, who is also a director of the British Wheelchair Sports Foundation.

Hibbert is currently working at Morden station to install lifts which will offer step free access to the Northern line platforms, increasing accessibility to the London Underground. Other contractors working on this project also supported the weightlifting event. Senior executives from construction firm YJLi and tactile flooring experts Livis helped with medal presentations and presented a certificate of achievement to wheelchair powerlifter Glen Puxley in recognition of his gold medal and world record at the recent World Championships in Korea.

Glyn Hibbert, construction manager at Tube Lines and director of the British Wheelchair Sports Foundation said:

“Wheelchair weightlifters are going from strength to strength and I’d like to offer my congratulations to Ali Jawad for his victory this weekend, and to Glen Puxley for his stupendous achievement in Korea.

“Tube Lines is proud to support wheelchair sports by sponsoring this trophy. We are working with Transport for London to make more of the Underground a viable option for wheelchair users and are keen to improve accessibility, especially as we move towards 2012 when London will host the Paralympic Games.”

ENDS

For further information or photographs, please contact:

Laura Wallace, Tube Lines     020 7088 5335/ 07843 551 589

Press office, Tube Lines         020 7088 4848

Or visit www.tubelines.com

Notes to Editors

1. Tube Lines is responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of the infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. London Underground is responsible for operating the Underground, for employing drivers and station staff, for ticketing and fares, and for the Tube’s safety regime.
2. The Tube Lines consortium consists of two shareholders – Amey and Bechtel. They bring together some of the most experienced providers of business services with specialist skills in the rail industry, including track and signal renewals, plus project and operational management. They are providing some of the best project and operational managers from around the world to work on the modernisation of the Tube system. Amey owns two-thirds of Tube Lines’ business and Bechtel one third.

If you would prefer not to receive future news from Tube Lines, please send an email to laura.wallace@tubelines.com with the subject heading “Unsubscribe”.