WEIGHTLIFTER Ben Ross is still very much on course for a place in the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia in 2018.

This was after the 28-yearold finished second in the English Championships held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

In his first outing of the new season lifting in the under 69 kg category, he produced a personal best of 110kg for the snatch and then lifted 130kg for the jerk for a total of 240kg.

Last year, he finished in fourth place so he was very pleased to move on to the podium and he is now looking forward to the British Championships in June.

The Rooksdown lifter has also been invited into the England training camp from where the England team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games will be picked and Ross sees this as another stepping stone on his way to his dream trip to the Gold Coast.

Talking after his success in Coventry, Ross a director and strength and conditioning specialist at Elite-Bodyworks, based on Kingsclere Road, said: “It was great to see all the hard work I put in during the winter had paid off.

“I was really delighted to pick up a medal and I hope to the do the same at the British Championship as I finished fourth there also last year.”

He added: “Being accepted into the England training is another great achievement for me.

I feel the next Olympics may just be too late for me, but the Commonwealth Games is very much in my sights and keeps me training hard.”

Ross may take part in a regional competition in March at Weybridge.

Anyone wanting to try Olympic weightlifting can give to it a try at Elite-

Bodyworks. The first session is completely free.