Fitness centre Crossfit Holthem in Haaltert (East Flanders) was the scene of the Belgian arm-wrestling championships on Saturday
The newly founded arm-wrestling club at the fitness centre organised only the second edition of the Belgian championships: ‘We do everything we can to promote arm-wrestling,’ Fanuel Dewever of Crossfit Holthem said
The East Flanders Arm-Wrestling Club in Haaltert has only been in existence for a few months
yet the Belgian Arm-Wrestling Federation asked the club to organise this year's Belgian championships
"This championship is a great opportunity to put the sport in the spotlight
The championships immediately drew quite a crowd to the gym
where the arm-wrestling club has its home base
a lot of supporters also descended on Haaltert
But even local residents who have nothing to do with the sport came to watch
Could Belgian arm-wrestling one day rival Russia
Over a hundred arm-wrestlers competed in various categories for the Belgian title
Among them was the defender of the Belgian title
He arm-wrestles with both his left and right arm
"I hope I may also advance to a European championship and even the world championships
Belgium is not yet a big player in this sport
A man from the Flemish Brabant municipality of Affligem was somewhat aghast when friends told him that they had seen a photograph of him in a police wanted notice
Geert Despiegelaere’s photograph appeared in the notice that was part of an ongoing investigation into bank card fraud
Last week the Federal Police issued an appeal for information to help them identify a man they suspect of having withdrawn cash and made payments with a stolen debit card
The card had been stolen from an 83-year-old man from Denderleeuw (East Flanders)
The card was then used to withdraw cash from an ATM in Liedekerke (Flemish Brabant) and to make payments at shops in the Brussels municipalities of Ganshoren
CCTV footage from the cash point in Liedekerke was included in the wanted notice
together with a description of the suspect
in an unfortunate case of mistaken identity the man in the photograph was Geert Despiegelaere and he had nothing whatsoever to do with the card fraud
"Good friends of mine recognised me on the photograph and let me know that I was being sought
Geert Despiegelaere contacted the Denderleeuw/Haaltert Local Police Service straight away to ask what was going on
It transpired that Geert bears a resemblance to the suspect and that this led to the confusion
He told VRT News that "I saw photographs of the real suspect
Geert is not angry with the police about the mistake they made
It was only a very good friends that recognised me and I understand very well how the confusion arose
The police officers were only doing their job."
the police have posted a corrected version of the wanted notice on Facebook and also apologised to Geert
An elderly woman has wrecked 6 graves at a graveyard at Kerksken
in the East Flemish municipality of Haaltert
The woman lost control of her vehicle and ran over the graves
The woman reported often drives her car into the cemetery and up to the grave she wishes to visit
Although previously this had always been without incident
things went badly wrong on Monday afternoon
A relative of one of the deceased people whose grave was wrecked told VRT News that "This has caused us a lot of emotional pain”
The motorist was taken to hospital with minor injuries and shock
The grave of Thierry Van Eecken grandfather was one of those wrecked
He told VRT News that “This is not just about material damage
It hurts to see the photo next to the wrecked grave”
Witnesses said that it wasn’t the first time that the woman had driven her car into the cemetery
“She doesn’t use the parking spaces that are provided
but often drives right up to the grave that she comes to visit”
The woman had reportedly already been issued with a warning about this as it is forbidden to drive a car into the cemetery
The municipal authority says that it will have the graves restored
Mayor Phaedra Van Keymolen (Christian democrat) says “We understand that this hurts the relatives
We have already started claim proceedings with our insurance company.”
Ms Van Keymolen added that pending a complete restoration of the graves
a provisional restoration work will be carried out