The Women's -75kg, -82.50kg and +82.50kg categories and the Men's -75kg category will take place on Sunday, September 14 in the Paralympic Powerlifting competition.
Women's -75kg group A
China's Zhang Liping will be looking to improve on her silver medal performance at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games. She won gold at the 2006 World Championships in Busan, the Republic of Korea.
Mexico's Catalina Diaz will once again be hot on the heels of Zhang, and will also be hoping to improve on the Paralympic bronze medal she won in Athens. She claimed silver at the 2006 World Championships.
Other medal contenders are Randa Tageldin Mohamed of Egypt, Lin Tzu-hui of Chinese Taipei, Olga Kiseleva of Russia, Valentina Simakova of Turkmenistan and Lyazat Salimzhanova of Kazakhstan.
Women's -82.50kg group A
Zuo Jue of China is a favorite to win the gold medal. She won a silver medal in the -60kg category at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games and won a silver medal at the 2006 World Championships.
Perla Patricia Barcenas of Mexico, who finished second in the -75kg category at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, will no doubt be eager to follow in the footsteps of her compatriots Amalia Perez, who won a gold medal in the Women's -52kg category, and Laura Cerero, who won the bronze medal in the Women's -40kg, to make it a Paralympic Powerlifting medal hat-trick for Mexico.
Sharifah Raudzah Syed Akil of Malaysia, Mary Stack of the United States and Heba Said Ahmed of Egypt are also medal chances.
Women's +82.50kg group A
The favorite in this category is China's Li Ruifang, who has never settled for less than a gold medal since winning her first title in 1994. She won the gold medal in this category at both the Athens 2004 and Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.
Deahnne McIntyre of Australia is probably the only competitor who can cause an upset. McIntyre is competing at her third Paralympic Games.
Men's 75kg group A
Powerlifters from Mexico, China, Poland and Japan are the medal favorites in the Men's 75kg Powerlifting category.
Porfirio Arredondo of Mexico will be looking to improve on his performance in this category at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, where he came fourth.
China's Liu Lei won the gold medal in this category at the 2007 European Championships in Kavala, Greece, silver at the 2006 FESPIC Games in Kuala Lumpur and at the 2005 Asian Championships, also in Kuala Lumpur.
With a personal best of 185kg, Japan's Odo Hideki won a silver medal in this category at the 2007 Regional Games in Seoul and at the 2006 FESPIC Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Piotr Szymeczek of Poland won the silver medal in the -82.5kg category at the 2007 European Championships in Kavala.
(BOCOG September 14, 2008)