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Wu Jingbiao defended his title

Like a year ago Paris brought again noisy Chinese success by a tandem formed by Wu Jingbiao World Champion and the newcomer Zhao Caojun at this time. Their challenger was a Bulgarian born young man Valentin Hristov representing Azerbaijan Republic. The 17 and a half years old lifter had a hard work to stay in competition in Snatch. On the contrary El Maoui (TUN) was successful in Snatch collecting a bronze medal (127 kg) but in Clean and Jerk he was not able to perform well and had to say good bye to Paris without a result in Total. Another young talent Thach Kim Tuan (VIE) tried to break his Youth World Record from 127 to 129 kg with no success.

At the end of the series Wu Jingbiao tried to reach as much advantage as he could. The snatch session was closed by his 133 kg attempt.

Hristov had a fantastic 154 kg in Clean and Jerk breaking the Youth World Record.

Finally Wu Jingbiao defended his Antalya title by 159 kg in Clean and Jerk.

Press Conference:

Speaking at press conference, the Chinese champion, Wu Jingbiao declared that he has been competing with Zhao Chaojun, the silver medalist several times, and he won more than his teammates in the training sessions.

Being asked over the absence of Long Qingquan, his former teammate and the 2008 Olympic champion, Wu Jingbiao said he really wanted to compete together with Long as they did in Antalya a year ago but he could not qualify for Paris. They are good friends and being informed about Wu’s triumph Long Qingquan immediately congratulated him by sms.

Hristov Valentin, who is now an Azerbaijani citizen, said he was born in Bulgaria but since he had many problems for attending the competitions there he and his father (also his coach) decided to leave the country for Azerbaijan. He added that in Bulgaria they did not have the chance to compete for more than 2 years, but now they have excellent conditions in Azerbaijan.

Expressing their gratitude to the president of Azerbaijan weightlifting federation, Valentin stressed that it was also very difficult for them to participate at Paris 2011 championships as the citizen of Azerbaijan, accordingly they could not prepare well for this very important world competition.

Highlighting the difficulties the weightlifters face in Bulgaria, Valentin revealed that three men, two women and two coaches have already left Bulgaria for Azerbaijan.
Furthermore, the 18 year-old bronze medalist said that he started weightlifting when he was 11 years old, and it was his first world record.