Hobart mother-of-one Kaity Fassina was among the 16 Australians named to contest the weightlifting at the new Carrara Sports Centre in April.

The 27-year-old physical education teacher at Friends School trains at the Tasmanian Weightlifting Academy in Glenorchy and is currently attending a Weightlifting Australia camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

“I’m very excited but also relieved because it’s been a long four years to get here,” Fassina said.

The national champion in the 90-kilogram division, Fassina becomes the fourth Tasmanian confirmed on the Australian Commonwealth Games team in as many different sports.

Having been the hard-luck story of the Rio Olympics, Launceston’s Jake Birtwhistle started the ball rolling by becoming the first Australian triathlete to lock in a spot when the former under-23 world champion led the home contingent in the Gold Coast World Triathlon Series race in April.

Invermay’s triple world champion bowler Rebecca Van Asch, 29, was named in the national bowls squad in December and King Islander Stewart McSweyn, 22, joined her a week later courtesy of winning his maiden Australian 10,000m championship, the Zatopek 10, in Melbourne.

Several other Tasmanian athletes have Commonwealth Games qualifiers to their names and remain in contention while hockey and cycling are also expected to provide traditionally strong Tasmanian representation on the Gold Coast.

Launceston swimming sensation Ariarne Titmus heads the list of contenders from other sports as the state seeks to top its record representation of nine at the last home Commonwealth Games in 2006.