Former national weightlifter Vijendra Pal Sharma received the 2015 Fiji Olympic Order at the Grand Pacific Hotel last night.

Fondly known as VP Sharma, he was the only Fiji official to have achieved a Category One, the highest level in international refereeing in the sport of weightlifting.

VP Sharma was a young lifter in his youth and then gave back to his sport as secretary/ treasurer of the Fiji Weightlifting for more than 20 years. Holding the association together, he was the driving force behind Fiji’s great successes from the 1960’s to the 1980’s.

He represented Fiji at various International Weightlifting ,Oceania Weightlifting and Commonwealth tournaments at his own expense and also paid for most of Fiji’s affiliation fees to these organisations, all for the love of the sport of weightlifting.

In 1964 VP Sharma was elected vice- president of Oceania and the Commonwealth Weightlifting Federations.

From 1969 to 1983 at the South Pacific Games, VP Sharma officiated as a referee as well as at the Australasian, New Zealand and Oceania Weightlifting Championships from 1973-1981. The highlight of VP Sharma’s career was when he was selected as a referee to officiate at the Olympic Games in 1984 in Los Angeles. This was the first time ever a Fiji person was appointed to officiate at an Olympic Games.

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