A professional arm wrestler from Abercarn has won a British Professional Armwrestling title and qualified for the sport’s world championships.
Dean Bolt won the title in the left-arm in the +110kg category, following a tightly fought contest in Lancashire on Saturday, August 4.
He will become the first Welshman to represent the UK in the left-arm +100kg Masters category at the 40th World Arm Wrestling Championship in Antalya, Turkey in October.
The Abercarn-based 41-year-old has only been a professional arm wrestler for the last two years, having taken up the sport in 2016, and is currently ranked fifth in Europe.
Bolt, a former two-time British Powerlifting Champion, said: “Arm wrestling became a natural progression for me. I’ve always loved tests of strength and have been surrounded by these sports from a young age.
“I’ve been lucky enough to tick a lot of personal goals across previous sports and arm wrestling represented new challenges for me that I couldn’t pass up.
“Since my father passed away when I was younger, I’ve always lived by the motto of fitting as much into life as possible. Representing Wales and the UK on an international stage goes a long way towards fulfilling this attitude.”
Known as ‘The Welsh Wolverine’, Bolt has a string of championships and accolades under his belt with two British Powerlifting Championship medals and 12 Welsh Powerlifting Championsip titles. He has also featured in finals of Britain’s Strongest Man and European Strongest Man.
The World Arm Wrestling Championship takes places over a two week calendar, with 1,200 competitors from 45 countries taking part.