Archive from 2026

Ismailia, Review: China dominates and unveils a teen superstar – and President of Iran praises his team’s efforts

China led the way as Asian nations claimed 12 of the 16 titles at the IWF World Junior Championships in Ismailia, Egypt. Besides having seven winners, China had the top individual points scorers for men and women, and introduced a 15-year-old superstar to the weightlifting world. Hu Wenxun will not leave the youth ranks until the end of 2027, so she has plenty more time to improve a record that is guaranteed to stand the test of time and might never be broken (except by her). Hu Wenxun (CHN) In the final session of the Championships, Hu broke all three of her own super-heavyweight youth world records in making 125-163-288. That would have won any of the three senior continental titles contested so far this year. It equalled the total made by Emily Campbell for an Olympic bronze medal in Paris. Hu is 15. She lifted the biggest total by any female in the youth age group, 13 to 17, in weightlifting history. She beat the previous highest by 16kg and is capable of extending her dominance in her next competition in July, the World Youth Championships in Colombia. China is sending a team of one – Hu Wenxun. Ye Xinye (CHN) Chinese women hold the women’s super-heavyweight world records at youth, junior and senior level. Their junior star, Li Yan, lifts at the Asian Championships in India on May 17 and has already displaced the 26-year-old double Olympic champion Li Wenwen as her nation’s number one. How long before Hu starts pushing towards the top? Hu did not top the individual points list because age is not taken into account, but she was undoubtedly the star of the week. Ye Xinye, who set a 58kg junior world record in snatch, was rated top on points ahead of her team-mates Peng Tianfeng at 53kg and Lin Jingwei, who set two junior world records at 69kg. Joseline Lopez (MEX) Joseline Lopez from Mexico, second at 58kg, was ranked fourth, then came the 63kg champion Thanaporn Saetia from Thailand, who was winning for the fourth time in a row and has fully recovered from a loss of form in 2024. Anamjan Rustamova’s 257kg total for Turkmenistan at 86kg, the day before her 20th birthday, was also very impressive and she could be one to watch during Olympic qualifying. Mauricio Loaiza (VEN) The men’s 60kg was high-quality, producing the athletes ranked first and third on points, both from China. Kang Lixin made 290kg to edge out Kuang Chengmin by 1kg. Mauricio Loaiza, one of two winners for Venezuela, was ranked second for his 373kg total at 94kg. Venezuela has plenty of promising youngsters, male and female, and will be expecting to win plenty more medals at the World Youths in Cali, where it has entered a strong team. Albert Delos Santos (PHI) Albert Delos Santos from the Philippinnes did his late father proud when, with his mother in the coaching team, he set a clean and jerk junior world record on the way to victory at 71kg. His father had passed away two months earlier. Iran, despite disruptions to their preparations, also had two men’s winners, both on the final day. Abolfazl Zare made 400kg at 110kg, finishing fifth in the rankings, a place behind Delos Santos. Abolfazl Zare (IRI) The team did not arrive until day four of the Championships because of difficulties getting visas and finding transport. Their training plans had been ruined because of the war. Their five medals on total made Iran the top men’s team. Their performance went down well back home, where Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, delivered a message of congratulations to the team, praising their “determination, talent and spirit of perseverance”. Hussein Metwally Abdelrahman (EGY) The biggest cheer of the week in Ismailia was for the 79kg champion Hussein Metwally Abdelrahman. He was the host nation’s only winner, making it three world titles in a row twice being Youth champion. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio

Ismailia, Day 7: Photo Gallery

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Ismailia, Day 7: 15-year-old Hu makes historic total – and Iran’s heavyweights complete a ‘double 1-2’ again

Hu Wenxun made her mark in weightlifting history on the final day of the IWF World Junior Championships in Ismailia, Egypt. In finishing second to her team-mate Zhang Yuxin in the women’s super-heavyweights, the 15-year-old from China had a sweep of youth world records on 125-163-288. That is the heaviest total ever by a youth female, and equal to Emily Campbell’s effort that earned her an Olympic bronze medal in Paris two years ago. Iran also had a memorable day, finishing 1-2 in both the heaviest men’s categories for the second year in a row. That put them top of the men’s medal table despite their late arrival in Ismailia and their disrupted preparations. Hu Wenxun (CHN) Hu was born in October 2010, which means she will be eligible for youth competitions (age 13-17) until the end of 2027. She claimed all three youth world records on her only previous international appearance at the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain last year, where she made 115-152-267. Today’s effort was way better than the winning numbers for three senior continental champions last month – Campbell from Britain in Europe, Lisseth Ayovi from Ecuador in the Pan Ams, and Iuniarra Sipaia from Samoa in Oceania. Hu surpassed the previous best total by a female youth by 16kg. That was 272kg by Nadezhda Nogay from Kazakhstan in 2011. It might have been a wider margin – and victory over Zhang - if Hu had made her final attempt on 166kg, the only one she missed. Zhang Yuxin (CHN) Zhang, 18, also failed once in her 126-164-290. Tuana Suren from Turkiye was third, 43kg behind the winner on 109-138-247.  Barbara Mendoza completed a successful championships for Venezuela by taking snatch bronze on 110kg. Hu said she has been in weightlifting for seven years, having started at school. “I started weightlifting because I wanted to lose weight,” she laughed. It did not quite turn out that way: Hu weighed in today at 123kg, second highest of the 12 athletes. She said her best numbers in training were 120-165, so was very happy with her performance, especially in snatch. And what’s next? “I hope my next competition will be the World Youth Championships in Colombia,” she said. That is in July, by which time the numbers might have improved again. Abolfazi Zare (IRI) Iran’s stars were Abolfazl Zare, who hit the 400kg mark to win at 110kg, and Hamidreza Mohammaditanha, who won the super-heavyweights for the second straight year with a six-from-six 180-221-401. It was a first victory for Zare after he finished second twice at the World Juniors. Zare, 19, made five good lifts for 180-220-400, ahead of his team-mate Farhad Gholizadeh on 179-208-387. Simone Abati from Italy was third with a six-from-six 173-200-373, his best by 16kg. Wang Guizhou from China, who bombed out in snatch, missed his first two clean and jerks but made the last one on 207kg for a bronze medal. Marcin Ziolkowski from Poland was in contention for third place but failed twice in clean and jerk and Abati claimed a rare heavyweight medal for Italy. Zare jumped 11kg for his final attempt despite having won already. “He has done 185-226 in training,” said Sajjad Anoushirivani, president of the Iran Weightlifting Federation. “We are very strong at 110kg. We have four athletes all trying to qualify for the Olympic Games.” They are today’s two medallists plus Amirhosein Sepah and Alireza Nasiri, all aged 19 or 20. Hamidreza Mohammaditanha (IRI) Nasiri won last year – his second junior world title – and set junior world records of 231kg in clean and jerk and 414kg on total at the senior World Championships in Norway. He will lift at the Asian Championships in India next weekend. Omadillo Olimov from Uzbekistan threatened to ruin Iran’s 1-2 finish in the super-heavyweights when he made his final attempt to finish 169-219-388. But Taha Nemati responded with his fifth good lift to take silver on 172-220-392. Selahattin Altin from Turkiye took snatch bronze on 170kg and finished fourth. Iran’s ‘big four’ collectively weighed 528kg and lifted 1,580kg – slightly up on last year in body weight and kilos lifted. When the Championships began last weekend, Iran’s participation was uncertain. The Egyptian sports minister, after prompting from the IWF president Mohammed Jalood, helped to clear the way for Iran’s visas and they arrived on Tuesday. “The long journey and lack of rest affected our first two athletes but the others were fine and performed well,” said Anoushirivani. The team’s one-month training camp had to be cancelled because of the war, and the juniors – whose head coach is the 2016 Olympic champion Sohrab Moradi – instead trained alongside the seniors for two weeks. Iran finished the Championships with two golds, two silvers and one bronze on total. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio

Ismailia, Day 6: Photo Gallery

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Ismailia, Day 6: Venezuela strikes gold again and Turkmenistan’s champion reveals the secret of success – get off your phone

Venezuela had another hugely impressive winner at the IWF World Junior Championships in Ismailia, Egypt when Mauricio Loaiza made all six attempts to take the 94kg title in his first competition outside Latin America. Loaiza was Venezuela’s second champion in successive days after Angel Rodriguez won at 88kg on Wednesday. Anamjan Rustamova from Turkmenistan came out on top in the closest finish yet at these Championships to win the women’s 86kg. After singing her anthem at the medal ceremony, Rustamova, who will be 20 on Friday, revealed the key to her success. Anamjan Rustamova (TKM) “I gave up my mobile phone for two months at training camp to focus only on my preparations,” she said. “It was my decision, not the coach’s. “I didn’t want any distractions, I just wanted to work hard. Of course there were times when I wanted to call my parents so I had to ask my coach if I could borrow his phone.” The scoreboard showed the top three on 253-252-251 with one attempt each to come. Emma Poghosyan from Armenia was in the lead, Xu Linyue from China was second and Rustamova third. Xu went first and led with a six-from-six 110-146-256. Rustamova had failed at 145kg but needed 147kg to overtake Xu. She did it, finishing 12kg better than her previous highest total on 110-147-257. The Women's 86kg podium Poghosyan, 4kg behind, was already well up on her best total and could not make the 149kg she needed. She made 109-144-253 in third place. For the second straight year Rustamova was a junior world champion. “We are still here tomorrow and I will be celebrating my birthday in Egypt,” she said. “There will be cake, of course.” Remarkably for someone who is still a teenager - at least for a day - Rustamova was competing in her eighth World Championships, one in the Youths, five in the Juniors and two in the seniors. She will go to the Asian Games and a third senior World Championships before the year is out. “Maybe I should give up my phone again next time,” she said. Rustamova was “never nervous, always confident” despite being 4kg behind the snatch gold medallist Rahma Ahmed at halfway and needing that final lift to overtake Xu. Ahmed, from Egypt, bombed out in clean and jerk, failing three times on 131kg. Mauricio Loaiza (VEN) Marian Murgvliani from Georgia took snatch silver on 111kg and, like her team-mate Nana Khorava the day before, finished fourth on total. Georgia fared better in the men’s 94kg when Goga Jajvani rescued a medal with his last lift. He won snatch gold but missed twice at 198kg and was in danger of a bombout when he made 200kg to finish 167-200-367 for second place. Goga Jajvani (GEO) Jajvani won the 89kg title last year, when he finished one kilogram ahead of yesterday’s winner Rodriguez. Another Venezuelan got the better of him this time. Loaiza, who last competed 10 months ago, prepared well and put 28kg on his best total, making 166-207-373. Just like Rodriguez, he looked very impressive throughout. There was still a chance that Loaiza could be beaten. Hamidreza Zarei from Iran, who was 5kg behind at halfway and 7kg behind with one attempt left, cleaned 212kg and got the bar above his head but he could not complete the lift. Zarei was third on 162-204-366. Hamidreza Zarei (IRI) Valerik Movsisyan from Armenia took snatch bronze on 164kg before bombing out in clean and jerk. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio

Ismailia, Day 5: Photo Gallery

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