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Ilyin Ilya rocked the 105kg bodyweight

Whatever other sport was going on around the world yesterday (Sat) it surely cannot have matched the IWF World Championships for drama, excitement and breathtaking quality. The world’s most popular weightlifter rounded off a remarkable evening by setting a third world record in three successive lifts – all by different men. Ilya Ilyin, double Olympic champion and favourite not just of the home Kazakh supporters, but of many thousands more around the world, brought the crowd to their feet in a stunning finale to the men’s 105kg. It would not have been possible to script a better finish for the fans, who had paid $90 a ticket, and the worldwide television audience. Tactical switches by the coaches of Ilyin, his good friend Ruslan Nurudinov of Uzbekistan, and David Bedzhanyan from Russia meant that the last four clean-and-jerk lifts of the night would all be higher than the world record of 238kg. Ilyin, having made four out of four, failed with his fifth lift, a world record attempt at 239kg. Next up was Nurudinov, who made the lift. He nodded approval of his own effort while the partisan crowd cheered and applauded respectfully. Bedzhayan, the man whose record had just been beaten, had missed at 236kg but had to go to 240kg to take the lead. He did it. Nurudinov’s world record had lasted little more than a minute. So did Bedzhayan’s. Ilyin, wearing a light blue uniform with his name printed on the back, marched purposefully forward. The bar had gone up to 242kg, which would be enough for clean-and-jerk and overall victory. He cleaned it quickly and easily, and as he raised his arms the whole crowd stood and roared – spectators, fellow athletes, VIPs, Press and even some of the officials. It was magnificent. As if that was not enough for one night, we then had the bizarre sight of Ilyin taking a phone call while he was on the podium for the snatch medal ceremony. The sports minister handed him the phone and Ilyin took the call, from the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Narzarbayev. They arranged to meet each other on Kazakhstan’s Independence Day, December 16. To round off the entertainment Ilyin then revealed that he had increased his weight, trained relentlessly – especially in the last six weeks - and won his world title as a vegetarian. When he had won gold at London 2012 Ilyin spoke of the benefits of eating plenty of chicken and horsemeat, a favourite in Kazakhstan. Now he said that he did not digest meat easily and that, despite the misgivings of his coaches, he had cut it out altogether several months ago. “I feel lighter, freer, and I exercise more efficiently,” he said. “I base my diet on my feelings. It helps and it works.” As long as he takes in enough protein, he is fine without meat. Although many Indian lifters are vegetarian, nobody has yet been able to name a vegetarian who ever won a world title. Ilyin has now won IWF World Championship titles at three weights – 85kg, 94kg and 105kg. His Olympic golds in 2008 and 2012 were both at 94kg. His next target, he said, is a third Olympic gold, this time at 105kg. He was planning to celebrate with his close friends last night (Saturday), and as well as training hard he will continue his English lessons. He is planning visits to the United States and Britain. Maybe some vegetarian food companies will want to sign him up. In the women’s 75kg PRK strengthened their position at the top of the medals table. Kim Un Ju won both the clean-and-jerk and the overall golds, while China could not manage any. Kang Yue, China’s big hope, was one of three lifters who finished on 126kg in the snatch but lost out to Russia’s Nadezhda Evstiukhina on bodyweight, with Kim third. Evstiukhina then faltered badly in the clean-and-jerk, missing her first two lifts. “I wasn’t aggressive enough, and I have some technical problems to sort out,” she said after finishing on 153kg, four behind Kim. PRK are favourites to finish on top of the medals table for the first time in any major championship in any sport. They are three golds ahead of China, whose last chance lies with Suping Meng in the women’s +105kg today (Sunday). She needs a clean sweep for China to overtake

Evstyukhina (RUS) hoping to end Russia’s golden drought

Five-time world champion Nadezda Evstyukhina (RUS) is hoping to end Russia golden drought with only two day of competition at the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships in Almaty. That elusive medal would raise Russia's total in the competition to 100 and would make it the fourth country to reach the milestone after China, Soviet Union and Bulgaria. Women's 75kg Nadezda Evstyukhina (RUS) has won five world titles in the women's 75kg and is two gold medals shy of Svetlana Podobedova's (KAZ) record in this event, since the introduction of the current weight categories in 1998. Evstyukhina's total of 15 medals is already a record in this event. She is the only woman to win five medals in the Snatch, Clean and Jerk and Total in the 75kg. Evstyukhina is one medal shy of the all-time record of 16 medals by an individual set by Jang Mi-Ran in the women's +75kg (since 1998). The record total of most medals won within an event at the World Championships (since 1998) is six, also set by Jang Mi-Ran in the women's +75kg Clean and Jerk. Evstyukhina can equal the Russian record of most world titles as she is three shy of Oxana Slivenko's (RUS) record of eight, which she won in the women's 69kg between 2006 and 2011. China and Russia have won a record 10 gold medals in this event, with China having the record in the Clean and Jerk and Total (4 world titles) and Russia in the Snatch (4 world titles). Men's 105kg Ilya Ilyin (KAZ) can become the seventh male lifter to win a Total world title in a record equalling three different weight categories. Ilyin already has won world championship titles in the men's 85kg (2005) and men's 94kg (2006 and 2011). Ilyin is the world record holder in the men's 94kg at 418 kilogrammes. The top mark in the 105kg is 436 kilogrammes, set by Andrei Aramnau (BLR) at Beijing 2008. Ilyin has won a total of five gold medals at the World Championships, the most by a male competitor representing Kazakhstan. He has also won one silver and one bronze medal. Defending champion in Snatch, Clean and Jerk and Total is Ruslan Nurudinov (UZB). Only three athletes have won more than three gold medals in this event. Dmitriy Klokov (RUS) and Vladimir Smortchkov (RUS) are both on 4 gold medals and record holder Marcin Dolega (POL) is on 7 world titles in the men's

Kazakhstan’s double in the men’s 94

PRK overtook China at the top of the medals table at the IWF World Championships in Almaty yesterday afternoon and, after a sensational finish in the men’s 94kg two and a half hours later, they have a good chance of staying there. In the first medal event of the day 20-year-old Un Hui Ryo won her first world title with a clean sweep of three golds in the women’s 69kg. That took North Korea to 10 golds, one more than China, and she said, “China was the strongest nation in weightlifting before, but not now. That’s in the past!” Hao Liu then made a brave effort to put China back on top, by virtue of a better silver-bronze record, in the 94kg clean-and-jerk. It was great entertainment and the crowd, with two Kazakh athletes to cheer, loved it, making more noise than we have heard all week. Liu was out of form in the snatch. He failed with two of his three lifts and was down in 15th place, 23kg behind gold medallist Vladimir Sedov, from Kazakhstan, after making only 165kg. His first attempt the clean-and-jerk was 50kg heavier at 215kg, and he made it. Liu then failed with his second lift, on 221kg, but made his third attempt. He had moved up nine places and although he had no chance in the overall contest he was suddenly in gold-medal position in the clean-and-jerk with three lifters to finish. Rinat Kireev from Russia, failed at 224kg. So did the next man, Vadzim Straltsou from Uzbekistan. That left only the home hope Zhassulan Kydyrbayev, who went up 8kg to 229kg in one last attempt to overtake Liu and take the overall victory from his fellow countryman Vladimir Sedov, who had posted a seemingly unbeatable total of 407kg. Kydyrbayev made it, the crowd went wild, and somewhere back in their team hotel the North Koreans will have been celebrating too. They expect more gold in today’s women’s 75kg (Saturday) and believe they will finish ahead of China in the final table on Sunday. There are four more medal events to come. Ryo always looked the likely winner of the women’s contest, despite the distraction of the crowd booing her during her lift as she attempted to overtake Kazakhstan’s Zhazira Zhapparkul for victory. When asked about that afterwards Ryo politely ignored the controversy and replied, “I have won my first World Championships title and I am very happy.” China’s Youjuan Chen looked very disappointed after failing with three of her six lifts and finishing with a total of 261kg, four kilos worse than Ryo and one behind Zhapparkul. Another Kazakh, the Olympic 69kg champion Maiya Maneza, was returning at a new weight after taking time off to get married and start a family. In her first competition as a mother she made a total of 231kg, and will expect to improve next year. Those home fans did have gold medals to cheer in the men’s 94kg. Kydyrbayev and Sedov provided the first 1-2 finish at these championships for any nation. Both lifters are part of Team Astana, whose star man, Ilya Ilyin, is in action in the 105kg tonight (Saturday). Sedov won the snatch, with Kyrdyrbayev third. In second place was the colourful Aurimas Didzbalis, from Lithuania. The shaven-headed Didzbalis, wearing a lime green uniform, performed a superb backward somersault after his third lift – quite an achievement for somebody who weighs more than 93kg. He led the snatch until Sedov’s last lift and was also in contention overall until Liu and the two Kazakhs took

The triumph of Kianoush Rostami

The men’s 85kg category looks likely to be one of the highlights of next year’s IWF World Championships and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after a thrilling contest in Almaty, Kazakhstan last night. There was a first title of the 2014 IWF World Championships for Iran and three impressive performances by lifters aged 20 and 21 from China and Russia. The Bulgarian, Ivan Markov, also contributed to the excitement and would have won but for his only failure of the night with his sixth lift. The eventual winner, Kianoush Rostami, made a mess of his first lift in the clean-and-jerk. As the clock ticked down below 10 seconds he was still tightening his belt, and when he got the bar above his head he could not control it. Rostami ended up with his back to the judges and still got the verdict from one of them but two red lights signified a no-lift. Rostami failed with his second attempt too and had to make his third to go into the lead. He looked as if he had lost control of the 213kg above his head, but steadied himself and cheekily asked the judges if it was a good lift before dropping the bar. Even then Rostami, who had finished second behind Markov in the snatch, had to wait. Markov failed at 214kg, then the 20-year-old Russian Artem Okulov went for 218kg, which would have equaled the oldest senior world record in the book, set in 1998 by Yong Zhang of China. Okulov failed and so, too, did the Chinese, Tao Tian, who tried to beat Zhang’s world record when he went from 205kg up to 219kg in an attempt to win a medal. He cleaned it and looked for a split-second as though he might make the lift, but just failed. Okulov took bronze in the clean-and-jerk and overall. His total of 385kg was six short of Rostami and five behind Markov, but he looks sure to improve. So, too, does his 21-year-old fellow Russian Apti Aukhadov, who would have been on the podium had he succeeded with either of his last two attempts at 213kg. “I really enjoyed the competition, and it will make me train even harder,” Okulov said. “I really appreciate the rivalry, and I’ll see you all in Rio.” Markov, too, was keen to renew rivalry, especially with Rostami. After celebrating his victory Rostami confessed he had nearly quit weightlifting two years ago because of internal conflicts. “I nearly gave up weightlifting,” he said. Rostami’s enthusiasm returned, he said, when there was a change of coaches. He said he regained his form and confidence. Rostami travelled to Kazakhstan expecting not just to win, but to break that 1998 world record. “I’m angry I didn’t get it,” he said. “But I will do it.” The snatch bronze went to Andrei Rybakou of Belarus – the first time he won anything other gold, having won nine gold medals in previous IWF World Championships. Ulugbek Alimov of Uzbekistan took the clean-and-jerk

Women’s 69kg belongs to Deng Wei

A former circus performer won a gold medal, the home crowd cheered as a Kazakh lifter came from nowhere to take a silver, and China’s Wei Deng made a sensational recovery from a poor start in an exciting women’s 63kg at the IWF World Championships. The former circus performer was Romela Begaj, from Albania. Her father was a gymnast who passed on his skills when Begaj was very young. She performed around the world in gymnastics, trampolining and other dynamic feats of skill. And at the age of eight she took up weightlifting. Begaj, coached by her husband, the former boxer Gazmend Haksan, in Tirana, had won a snatch bronze in the 2011 IWF World Championships in Paris. Here she denied Kazakhstan a gold by lifting 113kg in the snatch, edging ahead of Karina Goricheva by having the lighter bodyweight. Winning silver was still a remarkable performance by Goricheva, 21, whose opening lift of 103kg was lower than seven of her rivals. She moved up to 108, then 113, when the crowd had to be asked to keep the noise down by the announcer. “They helped me with their support, but I had to try to calm them down for the lifts,” said Goricheva, who tried archery, fencing and karate before taking up weightlifting. “It’s tougher competing on home territory, because you don’t want to let anybody down.” Begaj, 28, became the first Albanian woman to win a world championship gold medal in any Olympic sport – only a day after Daniel Godelli had been the first man to do it when he won the men’s 77kg yesterday. Albania’s football team are doing well in the qualifying programme for Euro 2016 but, said a beaming Begaj, “Everybody is talking about weightlifting back in Albania – it’s the number one sport right now. It’s live on television and in all the newspapers.” Begaj is far better at the snatch then the clean-and-jerk, and fell away to seventh place overall. Last year’s champion Tima Turieva, from Russia, looked certain to win the overall gold when she went clear with a lift of 140kg but Deng responded with 142kg and it was enough for clean-and-jerk and overall glory. Turieva failed with her attempt at 142. She was disappointed, but said, “I can do more. I will be patient.” It was a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Deng. She failed with her first two snatch lifts on 110kg and had looked beaten. “I was very nervous before that third lift, and very happy when I made it,” she said. “After that I just relaxed.” Deng had finished second in the Asian Games six weeks ago, behind Tzu-Chi Lin, from Taipei. Last night Lin made only two good lifts and finished with a disappointing 246kg total, 6kg behind Deng and Turieva. By Brian

Albania’s first gold medal in any Olympic sport at a world championships

Albania’s Daniel Godelli won Europe’s first gold medals of the 2014 IWF World Championships in an exciting tussle for the men’s 77kg title. He failed with a world record attempt of 211kg in the clean-and-jerk, but Godelli’s total of 369kg made him Albania’s first ever gold medallist at the World Championships. It was also the first time an Albanian won a world championship title in any sport on the Olympic programme. Albania's previous best had been the silver medal by Ilirian Suli in the men's 85kg snatch in 2002. There was also a snatch bronze for Romela Begaj in 2011, in the women’s 58kg. She competes today (Thur) in the 63kg. Despite the scale of the achievement Godelli declined to attend the post-event press conference, as his team said they were unable to provide an interpreter. PRK also stayed away despite Kwan Song Kim having won gold in the clean-and-jerk, leaving only Guoshun Zhong (snatch silver, clean-and-jerk bronze, overall silver) to answer questions. Zhong, who was a junior world champion at 69kg in 2006, was selected because his more illustrious teammate and multiple champion, Liu Xiaojun, was rested after the Asian Games. China prepared two teams, one for those Games in Incheon, South Korea in September, and for these Championships in Kazakhstan. “I have been in good form over the past year or so, but I can’t beat Liu,” said Zhong, who said he was capable, in training, of 12-13kg more than his 367kg total here. He failed with two of his clean-and-jerk attempts but so did many others. There were 17 failures and only 16 good lifts in the clean-and-jerk, which Kim won with 200kg. Zhong praised Godelli as a formidable lifter, but said he believed the attempt at 211kg for the world record was too much: he was right. Godelli, 22, a Junior World champion in 2011, was also Albania’s first gold medallist in the European Championships. He won the clean-and-jerk gold in front of his home crowd in Tirana in 2013. This year he was beaten for the European title by his fellow countryman Erkand Qerimaj, who made only two good snatch lifts and did not register a total here. Kim’s gold in the clean-and-jerk takes PRK level with China on seven golds here in Almaty, with four days to go. By Brian