PLYMOUTH’S Doaa Shayea is thrilled to have been selected to represent England at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The 27-year-old has been named in a seven-strong para powerlifting squad for the prestigious event in Scotland.

When the last Commonwealth Games were taking place in Birmingham, Shayea was just taking up powerlifting having previously impressed on the athletics track at wheelchair racing.

But she has quickly made her name in her new sport and has already competed for Great Britain at a World Championships and will compete at the European Championships in Georgia next month.

However, the Commonwealth Games will be her first major multi-sport competition, and it will be a chance for her family and friends to watch her on the international stage.

“I’m trying to contain my excitement, but I’m very happy,” Shayea told Plymouth Sports Gazette.

“There will be a village and we will be spending time with other athletes from different sports, which is really exciting.”

She added: “I actually got into the sport at the exact time the Commonwealth Games were in Birmingham, so to actually be selected for England four years later is such an honour and a privilege.

“I really want to enjoy the moment, but I also want to do it justice.”

Shayea found out about her selection a few weeks ago but has had to keep quiet about it until it was officially announced this week.

“We found out about two weeks before, but we had to keep it hush-hush until Team England came to Loughborough for a content day,” she said. “We had a whole day doing a lot of interviews, pictures, videos – all sorts.

“We had to also keep that quiet until Wednesday when we were able to share it with the world.”

Shayea says her call-up for Glasgow came after impressing selectors in 2025.

“Last year I had a really phenomenal year where my performances just shot up,” she said.

“I had a very successful World Championships. I was one of the few athletes on the team that went and smashed all my lifts and hit my target, which was to hit 105 (kg) at the competition. That really secured my place and showed my potential.”

Shayea, who was born with spina bifida, has come a long way in a short space of time since switching sports from wheelchair racing.

“There will always be the wheelchair racer Doaa in me,” she admitted. “That sport will always have a special place in my heart. I truly fell in love with that sport.

“But powerlifting is so much more complex.

“There is also the stereotype of it been a male-dominated sport and that to do it you have to be really big and ripped.

“And some of those stereotypes do affect you. There is that general opinion that women shouldn’t be doing weightlifting as it is for men and if you do it you will look like a man, which is very inaccurate.

“However, that is something I have had to learn. It has played up in my mind, and I think that is the case for all females in strength sports as we look in the mirror and maybe criticise our bodies.

“But I am now trying to teach myself that it is about feeling strong and powerful – and there should not be any shame in feeling strong and powerful – and you can still look good while doing it.

“With wheelchair racing, it is about who crosses the line first, but the element I really love about powerlifting – and which probably shows the diva side of me – is that the spotlight is just on you.

“I wheel out to the platform and it is all about me. I am on that stage because I am seen as an incredibly strong human being and I’m about to lift weights most people cannot do and that is really empowering. It feels like something I have fought for since I was a little girl who was having an identity crisis and who struggled with being in a wheelchair.

“I think powerlifting has – no pun intended – lifted that off and shown the strong person that I am physically and emotionally.”

As much as she is delighted about her Commonwealth Games selection her priority at the moment is on the European Championships.

“I’ve got the European Championships in Georgia in just four weeks’ time, so I have to put the Commonwealth Games away for a minute and focus on getting strong for the Europeans,” she said.

On what her goal is, Shayea added: “The hopes and targets are always the same – it is to go in there, give the best show of my life, press as heavy as I can and just show what I have really got.

“I haven’t yet had the conversation with my coach, but I think because I hit 105 at the worlds, I will be aiming for between 108-110kg.”

Shayea is happy that she is able to do most of her training in Plymouth.

“I train at Pantheon on Cambridge Road,” she said. “British Weightlifting have kindly allowed me to have a bench there so it can be my home training environment and help get the best out of me.

“I have a few sessions there with the gym owner Ben Wadham, who will spot me and stuff when I need him.

“Also, every so often as part of being on the British Weightlifting team you have to go up to Loughborough University and do some training in their power-based gym there.”

She is the only person on the para powerlifting team from the South West and she would love to encourage new people to try the sport.

“British Weightlifting are always looking for new talent,” she said.

People can find out more about the sport and clubs and courses at the British Weighlifting website HERE.

The Commonwealth Games, which will only feature 10 sports this year, will take place in Glasgow between July 23 and August 2. Scotland stepped in to host a streamlined games after Victoria in Australia pulled out of staging the four-yearly competition.