It may be a sport for the strongest of athletes, but weightlifter Peter Cardona admitted to shedding a tear when he won bronze at the IWF Masters World Championship.

The Worcester Park man, 50, has won UK and southern titles, but after finishing fourth in the European Championship in April, he was desperate to step up on the podium at the Worlds in Denmark last week.

And so he did in the 50-54-year-old 69kg category, lifting 72kg in the snatch and 95kg in the clean and jerk.

His total of 167kg left him level with fourth placed Jean Pierre Desbordes of France, but the medal went to Cardona by virtue of his lighter body weight by 1.2kg.

The title went to Sendor Varga of Hungary (189kg).

Cardona said: “Jean Pierre had to lift 96kg in the clean and jerk to beat me.

“When he failed, I threw my towel over my head and weeped.

“I had told my son before the competition that all I wanted was to get on the podium.

“When it happened, and all the hard work for the past 18 months had finally paid off, it was all very overwhelming. ”

Cardona will now take a break ahead of another shot at the European title in Wales next year.

“Hopefully, if I can stay injury free, I can continue in the sport for some time to come.

“The guys in the age and weight category above me are lifting similar weights to me now and winning medals, so I will keep training and keep going to these competitions.”

He added: “I only started weightlifting 18 months ago and people told me I would not get very far as I was up against former Olympians.

“But this medal shows it can be done.”