Archive from 2012

Strong field and balanced performances

Women’s 75kg No surprises in the Women’s 75kg bodyweight category. The performances of the top 3 were well-balanced. ZUBOVA Olga (RUS) started her attempts both in the Snatch and in the Clean & Jerk after all her opponents ended their competition. She competed against herself trying to push her limits further and further. Each and every consecutive attempt she took was successful. With 115kg, 145kg and a Total of 260kg she earned 3 gold medals and dominated the field. Second place went to the other Russian lifter HARLOVA Maria while SANDRA MILENA Perea (COL) ended up third and won 3 bronze medals. Men’s 94kg In the Snatch, the Iranian lifter MOHAMMADPOURKARKARAGH Saeid came out after everyone and started at 171kg. He escaladed to 178kg, earned the gold in the Snatch and took 8kg advantage over his competitors. Second place went to KLIMONOV Egor (RUS) who lifted 215kg in the Clean & Jerk – just like MOHAMMADPOURKARKARAGH – but due to a lighter bodyweight he grabbed the first place. The Kazakh lifter KYDYRBAYEV Zhassulan ended the competition on the third place of the podium with a Total of 363kg and 3 bronze medals. MOHAMMADPOURKARKARAGH Saeid stood on the first place followed by the strong Russian lifer KLIMONOV who ended up second after 6 successful

Accentuated tactical fights

Women’s 69kg In the Snatch and even in the Clean & Jerk only a couple of kilos separated the gold medal winner from lifters winning the silver or bronze medal. In the Total, ZHAPPARKUL Zhazira (KAZ) gold medallist of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore stood up on the first place of the podium with 239kg. Surprisingly, the title holder from 2011 the Russian lifter TURIEVA Tima only ranked 4th. The change of bodyweight category (from 63kg to 69kg) must have been a disadvantage for her; however she won the bronze medal in the Snatch. SUWANNARATANA Wiriya from Thailand achieved 4kg less than the gold medal winning Kazakh while the Chinese lifter TIAN Wenju ended up third. With her last attempt in the Clean & Jerk TIAN had a chance to grab the victory, but she missed to lift 137kg. She won the silver medal due to a lighter bodyweight than TURIEVA. Men’s 85kg A strong, intense and exciting tactical fight opposed the Russian OKULOV Artem to the Chinese ZHANG Huacong in the Men’s 85kg bodyweight category. ZHANG ended the competition with outstanding performances dominating the weights and the barbell. With 6 good lifts and 3 gold medals achieved, he is the ultimate winner of the category. The Russian lifter OKULOV tried to take the lead, but none of his Clean & Jerk attempts were sufficient enough to precede his opponent. He missed the two first lifts and was fighting to have a Total result at the end. His third Clean & Jerk gave him salvation and two other gold medals. The fight for the third place between MALIGOV Adam (RUS) and MORADI Ayoub (IRI) was finally won by the Iranian lifter who manifested to be

Russia makes its début

Women’s 63kg Russian lifters entered the competition in a very remarkable way in the Women’s 63kg category at the 2012 IWF Junior World Championships in Antigua Guatemala. AKHMETOVA Diana performed at her best and her outstanding 6 good lifts brought Russia on the top of the podium. Following her second attempt of the Snatch with 105kg, she opened the way to secure her impressive victory. With two bronze medals for the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk the Chinese lifter LONG Dingling won and unexpected silver medal in the TOTAL. She lifted 126kg in the Clean & Jerk - 1kg more than her personal best. The silver medallist of the 2011 IWF WWC Paris, France GORICHEVA Karina (KAZ) missed her last two lifts in the Clean & Jerk and fell back into third position with a Total of 225kg - same Total as the Chinese lifter, but due to a lighter bodyweight LONG preceded her. Men’s 77kg The first two places of the podium showed the same setup as in the Women’s 63kg category. Russia and China got first and second place in the Total. KHOMYAKOV Dmitry (RUS) was confident and showed impressive strength during the entire competition. Preceded by GUO Zhimin (CHN) in the Snatch, he won with only 2kg in the Total because of a better result in the Clean & Jerk. The Chinese lifter GUO Zhimin ended up 6th in the Clean & Jerk, but with the advantage gained in the Snatch, it was a great achievement for him to take the silver. MATA Andres from Spain excelled with a silver medal in the Clean & Jerk and a bronze in the

Third competition day and first gold for Romania

Women’s 58kg With her last attempt in the Snatch, the Romanian lifter MOLIE Madalina Bianca had the chance to decide whether she’ll keep or give away the gold. Performing a no lift, MOLIE got the silver medal while INTAMAT Kamonchanok (THA) stood up on the first place of the podium. In the Clean & Jerk, the Chinese lifter YANG Li went from 100kg to 109kg which was a too heavy weight for her and she couldn’t achieve a better result. After 3 unsuccessful lifts in the Snatch, FIGUEROA Yusleidy (VEN) proved to be the strongest and even though she had no Total, she won the gold medal in the Clean & Jerk with 114kg. Ending the competition with 2 silver medals, MOLIE Madalina Bianca (ROU) was awarded the gold for the Total. Men’s 69kg WU Chao (CHN), bronze medallist at the 2011 IWF World Championships Paris, France left no chance to any of his opponents. He dominated the field. In the Snatch he was still closely followed by his compatriot SU Ying who he beat with only 2kg. With 190kg in the Clean & Jerk - 14kg more than the silver medallist GULIYEV Firudin (AZE) - there was no chance to any other competitor to beat WU. In the Snatch, the bronze medal was awarded with 145kg to ISMAYILOV Daniyar (TKM) who came forward from group B. The Albanian title holder GODELLI Daniel got the 5th place in the Snatch and didn’t show up to perform in the Clean & Jerk. PIPA Artiom (MDA) ranked 4th at the 2011 WWC Paris grabbed the bronze medal in Antigua

Thailand and Columbia tried to overcome the Chinese opponents

In the Women’s 53kg bodyweight category, 2 Turkish, 2 Thai and 2 Chinese lifters attempted to reach the top of the podium. All three gold medals were grabbed by the stronger - 18 years old - Chinese lifter ZHANG Wanqiong. In the Snatch she was preceded by TANASAN Sopita (THA) who won because of a lighter bodyweight, but in the Clean & Jerk she managed to beat her opponent with lifting 2kg more. The bronze medal winner Belarusian lifter CHYCHKAN Alena kept her place during the two lifts. The other Thai athlete SUTANAN Kittima ended up fourth with a Total of 197kg, whilst she won bronze at the 2010 and 2011 IWF World Junior Championships. The fourth bodyweight category - Men’s 62kg - gave a fourth victory to China. The title holder MAO Chen, who is competing for the last time within Juniors, ended the competition with a Total of 300kg. He arrived to Antigua Guatemala as 7th of the IWF World Ranking List, and lived up to expectations. In the Snatch, the other Chinese lifter HUANG Minhao (Asian Champion in 2011) grabbed the gold medal, lifting 140kg - 4kg more than MAO. Third place went to MOSQUERA Francisco (COL) with a Total of 291kg. However, in the Clean & Jerk he overcame HUANG and stood up on the second place of the podium with

Chinese victories on the first day of the Junior World Championships

Competition started at the Junior World Championships and Pan American Olympic Qualification Event in Antigua Guatemala with 54 countries participating in the 3 events running simultaneously. Altogether 440 athletes came to participate in the event. 37 Women and 87 Men will do their best to earn Olympic quotas for their country in the Pan-American Olympic Qualification Event. In regard to the 2012 IWF Junior World Championships, 118 Women and 154 Men will compete on stage to win the titles. Several lifters came back to defend their title: Women Junior World Champions in 2011: TURIEVA Tima (RUS - 2011 Junior World Champion in the 63kg bodyweight category now competing in the 69kg), ZUBOVA Olga (RUS – 75kg). Men Junior World Champions in 2011: CHEN Xiaong (CHN - 56kg), MAO Chen (CHN - 62kg), GODELLI Daniel (ALB - 69kg), MOHAMMADPOURKARKARAGH Saeid (IRI - 94kg), ARROYO VALDEZ Jorge David (ECU – 105kg), MOULAEI Bahador (IRI - +105kg) The first medal of the 2012 IWF Junior World Championships was won by the 17 year old Chinese lifter Feng Linmei. Attending her first international competition, she can bring home with pride a silver medal for the Clean & Jerk and a gold medal for the Snatch and the Total. The silver medal in the Total went PRAMONGKHOL Sirivimon (THA) who ended the competition with a Total of 183kg – only 3kg less then Feng Linmei. SIRIMONGKHON Wipada won the second medal for Thailand. In the Men’s 56kg bodyweight category, the 2010 Junior World Champion CHEN Xiong (CHN) won the gold medal lifting 13kg more than his main challenger in his category. The Spanish lifter BRACHI Josue, 5th at the 2011 European Weightlifting Championships Kazan, Russia managed to grab the silver, while JOHN Serna won a bronze medal for Colombia. Follow the competition on our live scoreboard and get live results from our