A WARRINGTON weightlifter who only took up the sport in 2016 has impressed on his Commonwealth Games debut.

Andy Griffiths, 29, lives in Sankey Bridges but hails from Newton, is co-owner of and a coach at Performance Pride, a specialist weightlifting gym on Old Liverpool Road.

He was in action in Birmingham this morning, Wednesday, in the men's 109kg final.

He totalled 346kg from the two sections of the contest, the snatch and the clean and jerk, with a clean card until a final failure at 193kg.

Warrington Guardian:

It left him in sixth place in an impressive debut at the NEC, just 9kg from the bronze.

Junior Periclex Ngadja Nyabeyeu took gold for Cameroon with a total of 361kg, Jack Hitila Opeloge won silver for Samoa while bronze went to Singh Lovepreet for India.

Having discovered the sport in 2016, Griffiths quickly set his sights on earning international honours.

He was crowned British champion in 2021 in the 109+kg category before following that up with third place the following year.

On his way to that gold in 2021, he broke the British Senior Snatch record with a lift of 165kg on his way to the title.