Archive from 2024

Tashkent, Day 7: Olympic champion Djuraev sheds 25kg and makes huge move in Paris  rankings

Before today Akbar Djuraev had never lifted in the 102kg category. Now he is not only Asian champion at that weight, he is a very strong medal contender for Paris 2024. Olympic 109kg champion Djuraev gave host nation Uzbekistan its best result of the week at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. He won decisively and sent out a strong message to the top two in the Olympic rankings, who did not lift today - world champion Liu Huanhua from China and the 96kg Olympic gold medallist Meso Hassona from Qatar. They were the only two athletes to have hit the 400kg mark before Djuraev did the same, making 180-220-400 to take third place in the rankings. He was happy with the victory but not the total, because he was hoping to do better than Liu’s 404kg and go straight to the top of the list. Akbar Djuraev (UZB) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport “I wanted much more than 400, but I made a couple of technical errors,” said Djuraev, who missed his third snatch on 183kg and his second clean and jerk on 219kg. “The numbers I want in Paris are 190-235.” Djuraev will be keen to outperform Liu. He watched in disbelief at the Asian Games, and was in tears afterwards as Liu made a winning clean and jerk of 233kg to overtake him for gold at 109kg. There was no 102kg at that event and Liu had weighed in at 101.8kg. There is no 109kg category in Paris. After winning Olympic gold and the world title in 2021, Djuraev tried going up rather than down in weight. He was a super-heavyweight at three competitions, the last of which was last year’s Asian Championships in Korea, where he finished third. In nine months since then he has lost 25kg. “It was very, very difficult when I first started trying to lose weight,” said Djuraev, who is ranked sixth in the super-heavyweights. “I was eating so much less than before, I struggled. But now I feel good.” It was a great result for Djuraev but not for anybody else hoping to make ground in the rankings. Five athletes withdrew after weighing in, including Meso, and three more failed to make a total. Jang Yeonhak from Korea, who drops from third to fourth in the rankings, failed with all three clean and jerks. Bekdoolot Rasulbekov from Kyrgyzstan was second, 14kg behind Djuraev. He had a chance to improve his total but dropped his final lift on 218kg and is now seventh. Third-placed Chen Po-Jen from Chinese Taipei also tried to make a move but missed his last two attempts to finish 176-206-382. Women's +87kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport Park Hyejeong completed an impressive hat-trick of wins in the women’s super-heavyweights and will be aiming to hit the 300kg mark at the final Olympic qualifier, the IWF World Cup in Thailand in April which ends on April 11. The 20-year-old Korean won the world title in Saudi Arabia in September, where the Olympic champion and rankings leader Li Wenwen from China had to withdraw after two lifts with an elbow injury. Park then won gold at the Asian Games four weeks later, and today she made 128-165-293 to claim her first senior continental title. Competing twice in quick succession took its toll and Park had a knee injury that disrupted her preparations. “I have been doing my best to get fit,” she said. “I didn’t work any less hard than usual. The knee is better now and I will definitely compete in Thailand because I want 130-70, and in Paris I will lift more.” Park missed her final clean and jerk of 171kg. Her team-mate Son Younghee was second on 127-160-287, and the Indonesian Nural Akmal was third on 110-149-259. Yun Ha Je’s winning total in the women’s 87kg was lower than the champions at 76kg and 81kg. Yun made all six lifts without extending herself to post 100-130-230. Nigora Suvonova from Uzbekistan was second on 101-128-229, and Maghsoudi Kizhan from Iran was third on 96-117-213. By Brian

Tashkent, Day 6: PRK ends with 100% record – and a good day for Korea, Iran and hosts Uzbekistan

DPR Korea finished its campaign at the Asian Championships with a 100 per cent record after Jong Chun Hui won the women’s 76kg to make it 11 from 11. The collective winning margin by the seven women and four men in the team was 260kg. There was success for a number of other nations. Kim Suhyeon made a big move up the Olympic rankings for Korea, which had two of the day’s four winners. Iran had an impressive young champion in the men’s 89kg and a silver medal in the women’s 76kg, as well as playing a role in helping Oman to a second medal in four days. Uzbekistan won three silver medals, and Kyrgyzstan had three bronzes - including one for an athlete coached by a swimming expert rather than a weightlifting coach. Lebanon had its first ever female medallist at the Asian Championships. The successful PRK team - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport PRK’s remarkable run, which featured six women’s world records, meant that the team finished top of the medals table for a third straight competition after the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in October and the IWF Grand Prix in Doha in December. This time China was absent as its team prepares for the final Olympic qualifier, the IWF World Cup in Thailand from March 31 to April 11. Team manager and PRK Weightlifting Federation vice-president Song Nam Jang said, “This is the first time that all of our athletes have won gold. There was no China team and next time we hope to be challenging China. For Thailand we will prepare very well. “We trained more and more hard, we showed our skills and our abilities, and we made many world records. Our team has the very best coaches, for women and for men.” Jong won comfortably despite weighing in light at 71.4kg and injuring her left leg when she missed her final snatch. She made only one clean and jerk before retiring and had to be helped on and off the podium. Jong’s 111-125-236 put her 16kg ahead of Elaheh Razzaghi from Iran, who made 96-124-220 to set career-high numbers and claim her first international medal. Like third-placed Tatiana Melnichenko from Kyrgyzstan, Razzaghi made all six lifts. Melnichenko also had a career-best performance and won her first international medal. In another first, she did it with a swimmer as her coach. Roman Kolnbakh met Melnichenko when the two worked at a fitness gym and competed in CrossFit. “I’m a swimmer but I worked as a fitness coach for CrossFitters and in MMA, and we went into weightlifting because it’s an Olympic sport,” he said. “The federation has been OK about the situation because our results speak for themselves.” Melnichenko said, “I’ve had a leg injury recently but today was the perfect day for me.” Fourth place went to Hala Fattouh on 96-122-218. That was enough for a silver in snatch, making her the first ever female medallist at the Asian Championships for Lebanon. Hala Fattouh with 'Baba Harry' Tchobanian - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport Fattouh is a dual national who trains in the United States with Ray Jones, who also coaches the multiple junior champion CJ Cummings. She has been supported and encouraged on her 10-year weightlifting journey by another Lebanese-American, the referee and former champion lifter ‘Baba Harry’ Tchobanian. Tchobanian is officiating at these Championships and joined Fattouh on the podium after the medal ceremony. He is 93 and reckons he won his last medal for Lebanon in 1960, before becoming an International Technical Official in 1965. The biggest mover in the Paris 2024 rankings was Kim Suhyeon, who began her career in 2011 but had never made a total at today’s weight of 81kg. Her only other attempt in 2019 ended in a bombout but this time she made six-from-six for 110-144-254, moving up from 11th to equal sixth in the rankings. “I like 81 now, I’m on my way to Paris!” Kim said. “Everything was good, nice preparation, no injuries.” Kim Suhyeon (KOR) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport Rigina Adashbaeva from Uzbekistan was second on 107-136-243, up 12kg on her previous best in the rankings. Third place went to Kim’s team-mate Kim Iseul on 105-133-238.  Lo Ying-Yuan from Chinese Taipei, the Asian and world champion at 87kg last year, struggled to 104-127-231 and was the only other finisher on a day of four bombouts. It was a good day for Iran in the men’s 89kg, and a bad day for those hoping to move up the Paris rankings, which nobody did. Winner Ali Alipour made 163-200-363. “My first competition as a senior, it was good,” said Alipour, 20. His total was 12kg higher than the winner at this weight at the World Junior Championships in Mexico three months ago, where Iran sent two younger lifters. Elyas Tamim and Amur Al-Khanjari (with the medal), with coach Tavakoli and their Iranian physio Iran also played a large part in helping Oman on to the podium. Before this week Oman had never won a senior Asian Championships medal, now they have had two in four days. Elyas Tamim took bronze in snatch at 67kg and today Amur Al-Khanjari had a clean and jerk bronze when, like Tamim, he finished fourth on total. Al-Khanjari had meniscus surgery recently and had been able to train for only 25 days. He and Tamim are training in Iran under the 2000 Olympic champion Hossein Tavakoli. Second and third on total were Sarvarbek Zafarjonov from Uzbekistan on 167-195-362, and Emil Moldodosov from Kyrgyzstan on 162-190-352. Kyrgyzstan had a third medallist when Nursultan Tarmalov was third on 149-184-333 in the men’s 96kg. Won Jongbeom from Korea was a clear winner as he made all six lifts in his 162-205-367, with the home nation’s Sunnatilla Usarov second on 161-185-346.   By Brian

Tashkent, Day 5: Ten out of ten for PRK – and now their women have more world records than China

DPR Korea now has more women’s world records than any other country after Song Kuk Hyang claimed her nation’s second victory of the day at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. In winning at 71kg, Song made 154kg to take the clean and jerk world record from China’s Liao Guifang. That means that PRK now has 12 women’s world records to China’s 10. Seven of them have been set here in Tashkent. Song’s success followed victory for Ri Chong Song in the men’s 81kg, where he twice failed with attempts to take Rahmat Erwin’s clean and jerk world record. Song Kuk Hyang (PRK) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport PRK has a 100 per cent record with one more member of its team yet to compete. Its anthem has been played 10 times in five days, and is likely to be heard again on Thursday when Jong Chun Hui lifts in the women’s 76kg. Song might have had all three world records. She just failed with a snatch attempt of 122kg that would have beaten Angie Palacios’ record, and needed only 5kg more to better Liao Guifang’s best total of 273kg but declined her final attempt. Song made 115-154-269, finishing 33kg clear of Chen Wen-Huei from Chinese Taipei, with Mun Minhee third for Korea. The 64kg Olympic bronze medallist Chen looked likely to move up the Paris 2024 rankings after starting with a career-best snatch and making her first clean and jerk. But she failed with her last two attempts and 108-128-236 was 7kg down on her best total. Chen remains in eighth place. Mun made 102-129-231, up 1kg on her best effort in the rankings but more than 10kg short of what she will need to qualify for Paris. Vanessa Sarno from the Philippines, who is fifth in the rankings, had a bad day. Her fifth-place total of 228kg was 21kg lower than her best effort in qualifying. Men's 81kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport In the non-Olympic men’s event, Ri was a clear winner. He started after everybody else had finished in snatch and clean and jerk to make 169-200-369, equalling his best snatch. He failed, for the second time in four months, with two attempts at beating Erwin’s clean and jerk world record. At the Asian Games Ri got his first record attempt above his head before losing the lift, but not here. As with his second attempt in Hangzhou in October, Ri twice failed to clean it and ended up on his backside. Second-placed Alexandr Uvarov from Kazakhstan was 26kg behind with a six-from-six 153-190-343. In third was one the world’s busiest weightlifters, Gaygyzyz Torayev from Turkmenistan, who has lifted at six major competitions in 244 days. The 20-year-old has been on the podium five times, at two IWF Grands Prix, the World and Asian Junior Championships, and now here in Tashkent after making 148-189-337. The only time he finished out of the first three was at the World Championships in Riyadh in September. Abdollah Beiranvand from Iran, another 20-year-old who finished behind Torayev at the World Juniors, took snatch silver in finishing fourth on total. He made a career-best 154-182-336. There are four medal events on Thursday, the busiest day of the Championships – women’s 76kg and 81kg, and men’s 89kg and 96kg. By Brian

Tashkent, Day 4: Rahmat Erwin beats world record twice and builds huge lead in Paris rankings

Rahmat Erwin from Indonesia boosted his chances of Olympic gold when he beat his own clean and jerk world record twice on the way to winning the 73kg title at the Asian Championships in Tashkent.In his past 13 competitions Erwin, 23, has won an Olympic bronze medal, two world titles, Asian Games gold, a continental title and two gold medals at the South East Asian Games, setting multiple world records at 73kg and 81kg along the way.After a sensational performance that put him 14kg clear at the top of the Olympic rankings, Erwin wants more. Looking ahead to Paris in August he said, “It has to be gold now.”Once more he enjoyed the moment with his father Erwin Abdullah, who was a successful international lifter and is now his son’s coach. There was an emotional celebration at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in October, and this time Erwin senior carried his son away from the platform on his back. Rahmat Erwin (INA) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportThe pair were later joined by Erwin junior’s original coach – his mother. “When I started weightlifting in 2012 my mother was my coach because my father had to work to support the family,” Erwin said.A year later his father took over, and Erwin has enjoyed a spectacular career. Asked what was the most important thing his father had taught him, Erwin said, “It’s quite hard to explain, but it’s that everybody has their limit, and that it takes them a different amount of time and effort to reach it.“I haven’t reached my limit yet!”Erwin made 159-204-363, finishing 1kg short of Shi Zhiyong’s world record total. He might have beaten it today but for being timed out by a fraction of a second on his first snatch attempt, his only failure. The world records came in lifts five and six, first at 202kg then 204kg. Happy family: Erwin with his parentsTo complete a good day for Indonesia Rizki Juniansyah finished second with a six-from-six 158-195-353. “I’m really happy with that because I’ve only been training properly for a month after appendix surgery,” he said. “There’s more to come.”Masanori Miyamoto from Japan was third on 150-185-335, declining his final attempt. Bak Joohyo from Korea took clean and jerk bronze on 186kg. Those two medallists and Jeeram Suttipong from Thailand were all well below their best Olympic ranking total.Rizki both made a 6kg gain in the extended list but has no chance of overhauling his team-mate Erwin. Another who moved up within sight of the top 10 was Doston Yokubov from Uzbekistan, who had plenty of support in the crowd.Yokubov could have drawn level with 10th-placed Furkan Ozbek from Turkey with a successful final attempt but he failed, and had to settle for a 3kg rankings improvement in fourth place on 146-184-330.The popular Korean Lee Sangyeon went up from 67kg for the first time and topped the B Group on 140-182-322, finishing ahead of three A Group lifters. Women's 64kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportDPR Korea extended its winning run to eight when Ri Suk took the women’s 64kg. Ri had the biggest winning margin of the week when she finished 50kg clear of Le Wei-Chia from Chinese Taipei, with the Korean Park Minkyung third.It would have been 56kg if 20-year-old Ri had succeeded with her world record attempt of 147kg on her final lift. She missed it and finished 112-141-253. Li made 85-118-203 and Park 86-116-202.It was less spectacular than last time for Ri, who set eight world records in five lifts at the IWF Grand Prix in Doha in December – seven junior records and the senior clean and jerk.PRK did not have an athlete in the men’s event but will still have Erwin in their sights on Wednesday. Ri Chong Song defeated Erwin at 81kg in Doha. He twice tried and failed to beat Erwin’s 81kg clean and jerk world record when he won at the Asian Games, then matched it with 209kg in Doha. By Brian

Tashkent, Day 3: Two more wins for PRK and a first senior medal for Oman

DPR Korea kept up its 100 per cent record at the Asian Championships in Tashkent by winning both the men’s 67kg and women’s 59kg. That means the scoreboard after seven medal events reads PRK seven titles, everybody else none.PRK is likely to extend that to eight on Tuesday in the women’s 64kg, but another anthem will be heard after the men’s 73kg because PRK does not have an entry.This time there were no world records as Ri Won Ju won the 67kg by a wide margin and Kim Il Gyong needed only one clean and jerk to win the women’s Olympic 59kg category. Kim failed with her second clean and jerk and declined her final attempt. Elyas Tamim (OMA) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportAnother highlight of the day was a first senior medal for Oman at the Asian Championships, when Elyas Tamim took bronze in snatch and finished fourth on total. His team-mate Amur Al-Khanjari also has a chance of making the podium when he lifts at 89kg on Thursday. Both men spent a year training in Uzbekistan and now train in Iran.Ri had a clear run to victory when the only man capable of challenging him withdrew after weighing in. Eko Yuli Irawan, who made his international debut in 2006 when Ri was three years old, has had a punishing schedule and his decision was no surprise.This was a seventh competition in 14 months for Irawan, the 34-year-old Indonesian who is trying to become the first weightlifter in history to win a medal at five consecutive Olympic Games.After posting a career-best total in Cuba in June and matching it at the World Championships, Irawan bombed out in clean and jerk in the Asian Games and the IWF Grand Prix in Qatar – the only time in 18 years when he has failed to make a total. Ri Won Ju (PRK) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportRi, 21, was 9kg clear at halfway and 25kg ahead of Sairamkez Akmolda from Kazakhstan at the finish. Ri made 137-180-317, and Akmolda 126-166-292. Teerawat Ratphet from Thailand was third on his international debut. Ratphet, 24, was second in snatch and made 128-158-286.This was Ri’s third international competition, all in the past four months. On his debut he came close to defeating the Chinese Olympic champion and world record holder Chen Lijun at the Asian Games, where he failed with his final attempt. Today Ri went for Chen’s clean and jerk world record with a final attempt of 189kg, but again he failed.Arguably the happiest man on the podium was Tamim. “I am too, too happy. I have been a weightlifter for 11 years and this is my first medal and my country’s first medal,” he said.Tamim, 25, and his sole team-mate Al-Khanjari are in familiar surroundings, having been coached in Uzbekistan for a year. In the past few months they have been based in Iran and coached by the Sydney 2000 gold medallist Hossein Tavakoli.“It’s going well, very nice there, very good conditions,” said Tamim, who made 127-157-284 to improve his best Olympic ranking total by 2kg. He is too far down the list to make it to Paris but Al-Khanjari is closer at 89kg, 14kg short of the top ten in 21st place. Women's 59kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportHu Jyun-Siang from Chinese Taipei made 164kg for a bronze medal in clean and jerk after bombing out in snatch.There were plenty more bombouts in the women’s session, in which Kim was a clear winner. In making 103-122-225 she was more than 20kg down on her best total, and was PRK’s first female champion not to set at least one world record here.Third-placed Natasya Beteyob from Indonesia made 96-116-212 to improve her best Olympic ranking total by 2kg but it was a bad day for five others.Elreen Ando from the Philippines, 10th in the extended list, failed with three attempts in her 93-120-213, which was good enough for second place but 9kg down on her best qualifying total.Enkhtamir Enkhbaatar from Mongolia was 28kg below her best in fifth place with a total of 178kg, and three others bombed out. Sarah from Indonesia and Thanaporn Saetia from Thailand failed with all three clean and jerks, while Quang Thi Tam from Vietnam tried and failed six times. By Brian

Tashkent, Day 2: Five straight wins for unstoppable PRK – and three more world records

DPR Korea continued its record-breaking run of success by making it five wins from five medal events at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. There were three more world records, too, as the day’s three winners collectively finished 67kg clear of the silver medallists.In the 18 weeks since they returned from an extended absence of nearly four years that kept them out of the Tokyo Olympic Games – a result of the country’s response to the Covid pandemic – PRK weightlifters have been unstoppable.They have set 12 world records and have topped the medals table at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China and the IWF Grand Prix in Qatar. With six PRK athletes yet to compete between tomorrow and Thursday, and China absent, they seem sure to be the top nation again here in Uzbekistan. Women's 49kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportTheir first winner today was Ri Song Gum in the women’s 49kg, which she won by 29kg. Pak Myong Jin was 15kg clear in the men’s 61kg, and Kang Hyon Gyong completed the hat-trick by finishing 23kg ahead of world champion Chen Guan-Ling, from Chinese Taipei, in the women’s 55kg.PRK could take its record to eight from eight over the next two days, because it has the favourite in the next three categories – women’s 59kg and 64kg, and men’s 67kg. The good news for everybody else is that there is no PRK athlete in the men’s 73kg on Tuesday.A delighted Ri waved to the crowd as she celebrated a final attempt that gave her two world records.While her rivals struggled to hit top form, Ri made 95-125-220 to take the clean and jerk world record from China’s Olympic champion Hou Zhihui and better her own mark on total.Rira Suzuki from Japan, who declined her final attempt in making 82-109-191, was second and Rosegie Ramos from the Philippines was third on 88-102-190.Unlike Suzuki, Ramos and most others here, PRK’s athletes are not chasing gains in the Olympic rankings because they are not eligible to qualify for Paris 2024. They missed too many qualifying opportunities during their absence.If she was eligible, Ri would be 4kg clear at the top of the rankings ahead of Jiang Huihua from China. Jiang and her team-mates are not competing in Tashkent, preferring to focus instead on training for the IWF World Cup in Thailand which runs from March 31-April 11 and ends the Olympic qualifying programme.In three appearances since PRK’s return, Ri has won gold at the Asian Games and Asian Championships, finished second to Jiang in Qatar, and set four world records.Only two of 11 women improved their ranking total, Lin Cheng-Jin from Chinese Taipei by 1kg and Klarisa Juliana from Indonesia by 5kg from the B Group, but none moved up into the all-important top 10. Those who fell short of their best total included Surodchana Khambao from Thailand, Shin Jaegyong from Korea, Windy Aisah from Indonesia, plus medallists Suzuki and Ramos.It was a similar story in the next session when PRK won and nobody made ground in the Paris rankings.Pak made five from six in his 134-172-306. Ricko Saputra from Indonesia made only two good lifts in second place on 130-161-291, failing with his final two attempts when he needed 10kg more to overtake team-mate Eko Yuli Irawan in the rankings. Men's 61kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportLee Hyeseong from Korea won snatch silver on his international debut before dropping to fourth on total on 286kg. Lee, 29, made 1kg more than his world champion team-mate Shin Rok, who lifted in the B Group.Shin Rok opened on 125kg before missing two attempts in both snatch and clean and jerk. The 2021 world champion posted 125-160-285, which was 2kg below his best qualifying total.The 21-year-old has had two bombouts and made only 10 good lifts from 30 attempts in qualifying but he remains optimistic. He has had a knee problem and believes there is more to come. “Today was good - I can do it in Thailand, I can qualify for Paris,” Shin Rok said.His target is 135-170, he said. That would be good enough to make him an Olympic medal contender, but he would surely need a six-from-six performance in Thailand.Seraj Alsaleem from Saudi Arabia, who finished fifth at this weight at the Tokyo Olympic Games after a successful qualifying campaign, has also struggled to make lifts. He has withdrawn after weigh-in twice and after today’s bombout in snatch he is down in 17th place in the rankings, needing to find an improvement of about 20kg in Thailand to qualify. Kang Hyon Gyong (PRK) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportIn the non-Olympic women’s 55kg category, Kang bounced back from a snatch bombout in Qatar by starting with three good lifts and bettering her own world record. Kang made 104-123-227 ahead of Chen on 89-115-204. Nigora Abdullaeva was a bronze medallist for host nation Uzbekistan on 86-106-192.Kang, 24, would have beaten her world record on total, too, but for a jury decision. Her final attempt at 130kg was given a 2-1 verdict by the referees but the jury ruled it a no-lift for a press-out. By Brian