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Jinju, Day 5: China’s Liao takes two world records at Asian Championships

Liao Guifang continued China’s dominance at the Asian Championships here in Jinju (KOR) by breaking two world records and moving to the top of the Paris 2024 rankings. In winning the women’s 71kg category by 29kg, Liao took Loredana Toma’s snatch world record and then overtook Zhang Wangli’s best total. Five lifts were enough for Liao, who declined a final attempt at which she might have gone up 5kg for a sweep of world records. “I will try to go for that record in future and will continue to train hard,” said Liao, 21, afterwards. All three medallists – Liao, Vanessa Sarno from the Philippines and the B Group lifter Chen Wen-Huei from Chinese Taipei – made huge improvements on their efforts at the first qualifying event in December. At the IWF World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia Liao was one of several Chinese athletes who underperformed, making only two good lifts for fourth place on 250kg. “Last time I was not in good shape in my mind,” said Liao, who made 120-148-268 in those five lifts here. “This time I was not so stressed, I took it easy and treated this competition just like a training session, and it went much better.” Sarno, the only one of the eight A Group lifters young enough to compete in juniors, put 15kg on her World Championships total by making five from six for 107-132-239. Chen, who was one of many athletes to bomb out in Colombia, made six from six for 101-131-232, which will put her just outside the top 10 in the rankings. While Liao improved her ranking total by 18kg her team-mate Zeng Tiantian went the other way, and judging by her entry numbers she has had an injury problem. After making 253kg in December, which leaves her third in the rankings, Zeng was down 22kg and out of the medals on 102-129-231. One place behind her was Pham Thi Hong from Vietnam, who took bronze in the snatch and made 103-127-230. Chinese lifters now sit top of the rankings in all the women’s weight categories for Paris and fill the top two places in three of them, with chances to go further clear this week at 81kg and the super-heavyweights. The good news for the rest of the world is that they cannot send more than three women to Paris. Iran had its first victory of the week when Hossein Soltani won the men’s 81kg – his first gold medal since he won the Asian junior title at 77kg in 2018. Soltani failed with his final two attempts but had already won on 154-184-338 ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Sheng-Min. After a remarkable save in the snatch, Chuang retired after one good clean and jerk on 154-180-334. Yelaman Seitkazy from Kazakhstan won the snatch but missed all three clean and jerk attempts, leaving Korea’s Park Hyeongo to take the bronze on 143-181-324. Iran’s main focus will be on the three heaviest Olympic categories, in which their main contenders are Kianoush Rostami at 89kg, and Reza Dehdar and the returning 2016 Olympic champion Sohrab Moradi at 102kg. Their top super-heavyweight Ali Davoudi has recovered from injury but lifts in the IWF Grand Prix in Cuba next month rather than here. “The men’s team became weak because we had so many problems, which started five years ago with the old federation, but that is finished now and things will be different,” said the Iran Weightlifting Federation’s new president Sajjad Anoushiravani. “We hope to qualify three men for Paris, and to win three medals.” By Brian Oliver, Inside the

Jinju, Day 4: Weightlifting gold for Japan and a women’s medal for Iran at Asian Championships

Weightlifters from Japan and Mongolia took the medal events on day four of the Asian Championships in Jinju, where an 18-year-old became only the second woman from Iran to win a medal at this level. For the first time at these Championships a day went by without the playing of the Chinese anthem, although it looked good for China halfway through the men’s 73kg. Wei Yinting won snatch gold, then dropped away tamely in what became a tense, gripping contest in which the top four finishers all started with the same 186kg in clean and jerk. Only one of the four, the Thai teenager Weeraphon Wichuma, made his second attempt and with three lifts to come, all three medallists were level on total at 340kg. Masanori Miyamoto made the decisive lift to finish ahead of Wichuma and Alexey Churkin from Kazakhstan, with the home nation’s Bak Joohyo second behind Wichuma in clean and jerk but fourth on total. Churkin, 19, failed with his last two attempts at 191kg and Wichuma opted for 192kg to finish, when 195kg would have been enough for victory. His coaches explained that the contest was so tight they preferred going lower for one gold medal, in clean and jerk, than go all-in for two. It may have been the right call because Wichuma, 18, only just made it at 192kg. Miyamoto, 26, made personal bests all round and totalled 7kg more than he made when fifth in the first Olympic qualifier in December, the IWF World Championships in Colombia, and 9kg more than his seventh-place finish at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The Japanese champion made 153-191-344, Wichuma finished 150-192-342 and Churkin was 154-186-340, the same total as Bak. The winning totals by the European and Pan American champions in recent weeks would not have been enough for a place in the top four here, despite the fact that Asia’s three strongest 73kg lifters did not compete. Rahmat Erwin and Rizki Juniansyah from Indonesia, who remain first and second in the Paris rankings, are going for gold at the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia this weekend - where one of them will move up to 81kg - and China’s Olympic champion and world record holder Shi Zhiyong withdrew after weighing in to give himself more time to reach his best form. Fourth-placed Bak has featured on the giant screen at the Jinju Arena every day, in a recording of his accomplished performance in the TV talent show I am a Singer. Bak, 25, said singing could be a career option for him later, “but right now weightlifting is way more important”. He has been singing since he was a boy, and goes to a singing room (like a karaoke bar, but in a private room rather than a bar) after training. “I’ve always enjoyed it,” said Bak, whose favourite singer is Beyoncé. When Anuujin Ganzorig won bronze at 71kg in last year’s Asian Championships it was her first medal in a career that began more than 10 years ago. Today the Mongolian followed up with a first title, claiming the women’s 64kg on 93-118-211. Medine Amanova from Turkmenistan made six from six for second place on 90-117-207 and teenager Fatemeh Keshavarz became only the second Iranian woman to win a continental medal when she claimed third place on 85-109-194. Elham Hosseini, who was Iran’s first female continental champion last year, was at the Jinju Arena to cheer on Keshavarz, 18, whose total was a career best by 14kg. Until 2018 women were not allowed to take part in weightlifting in Iran, and since the nation’s Islamic rulers lifted the ban it has been difficult for them to prosper. Two members of the national team defected to Germany, others went unpaid, and according to Sajjad Anoushiravani, the Olympic silver medallist who recently took over as president of the Iran Federation “there have been problems in the federation for five years”. But the sport is growing in popularity among women in Iran and recent national championships had nearly 300 entries across the age range, 110 in the youths 60 juniors and 120 seniors. Anoushiravani showed how seriously he takes the women’s team by appointing Koroush Bagheri as coach. Bagheri, a former world champion, was head coach of the men’s team who won three gold medals at London 2012. “In the national women’s team we have 10 youths, 10 juniors and eight senior good lifters,” said Anoushiravani. “They need more time to develop, and I think after one year we can speak more about our results.” By Brian Oliver, Inside the

Jinju, Day 3: Olympic champions beaten as China strike again at Asian Championships

There is no stopping China at the Asian Championships, where for the third time in three days they had a 1-2 finish in an Olympic weight category – and for good measure they won the day’s non-Olympic class too. To underline their achievements, all six Chinese athletes concerned will now take the top two places in the Paris 2024 rankings in the women’s 49kg, men’s 61kg and, after today’s result, the women’s 59kg. Two Olympic champions, Kuo Hsing-Chun and Hidilyn Diaz, were back in third and fourth place behind the six-from-six winner Luo Shifang and 18-year-old Pei Xinyi, who set junior world records in clean and jerk and total. At the first Olympic qualifier, the IWF World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia in December, Luo finished fourth at this weight and Pei won at 64kg. Chinese Taipei’s Olympic 59kg champion Kuo said at the time that she had expected more from Luo, 22, who missed three of her six attempts in Colombia, and here Luo delivered. She never looked like missing a lift as she made 105-133-238 and improved her first qualifying total by 8kg. Pei made 103-133-236, missing her final attempt in both snatch and clean and jerk but taking those junior world records when she made 133kg. Kuo, who will be 30 in November, had never finished behind a Chinese lifter at this weight since it was introduced at the 2018 IWF World Championships. She failed with her final two attempts and made 2kg less than her World Championships total on 102-128-230. In fourth place was the Olympic 55kg champion Diaz from the Philippines, who at 58.44kg was competing at her heaviest weight since 2015 and was higher than 58kg for only the second time in a career that began in 2008. “It’s very hard to change your weight, I have had injuries for six or seven months and I wasn’t even sure I would be able to compete here,” Diaz said afterwards. “So I am very happy with this performance – I’ve improved since the World Championships and that’s the most important thing. There are plenty more qualifying competitions to come.” In Colombia, Diaz won at 55kg with a total of 207kg. Here she was less than 4kg heavier and made five from six for 99-122-221, a career-best in the snatch and only the second time she has made a 220-plus total. “Now I want more, and I’ll work for it,” said Diaz, 32, who became her nation’s first Olympic gold medallist in any sport in Tokyo. Diaz’s team-mate Elreen Ando was distraught after failing with all three clean and jerks, having also snatched 99kg. Another Thai teenager showed great promise, after Theerapong Silachai’s junior world records on Saturday. Thanaporn Saetia, 17, had never competed internationally until March when she won the youth world title at 64kg in Albania. Here she improved on her title-winning total, despite going down from 64kg to 59kg, with 95-114-209 for eighth place. A large crowd turned up at the Jinju Arena for the men’s 67kg hoping to see a home victory for Sangyeon Lee, and it looked like they had it when he appeared to make his final attempt at 182kg. But with the bar above his head, Lee’s legs buckled and he dropped it for a second successive no-lift, leaving China’s He Yueji in first place on 147-173-320. Clean and jerk failures cost Lee dearly when he bombed out at the 2018 IWF World Championships, after which he fell out of favour with the Korean team selectors.  Lee also had a bad shoulder injury that required surgery and did not return to the platform until last December, when his two good lifts were enough for sixth place at the IWF World Championships in Colombia. Making all three snatches put Lee in with a great chance because of his prowess in clean and jerk, but it was not to be and he was second on 139-175-314. Adkhamjon Ergashev of Uzbekistan was alone in making all six attempts, which put him third on 138-174-312. The snatch silver medallist Jeremy Larinnunga from India bombed out in clean and jerk, and Bunyad Rashidov dropped from third in snatch to fifth overall on 140-162-302. By Brian Oliver, Inside the

Jinju, Day 2: Records, bombouts and another China 1-2 at Asian Championships

Li Fabin won the head-to-head between two Chinese Olympic champions, a Thai teenager claimed two more junior world records and four athletes bombed out in the first 20 minutes of a remarkable session on day two of the Asian Championships here in Jinju. The result of the second event here at an Olympic Games weight was the same as the first one on Friday – China first, China second and Thailand third. But the men’s 61kg was far more dramatic than the women’s 49kg because it featured a gripping contest between Li and his team-mate Chen Lijun, a superb performance by Theerapong Silachai – a name to remember – and 13 no-lifts in the first 15 attempts. Li, the Olympic champion at this weight, failed only with his final attempt. By then he already had the better of Chen, the 67kg winner in Tokyo who had to lose nearly 10 per cent of his body weight to drop down to this new Paris 2024 category. Chen, 29, was still trying to shed more grams this week before weighing in at 60.92kg, his lowest weight since he began his career by winning a junior world title in 2010. Li made 143-171-314 while Chen missed his last two attempts in making 142-168-310, a phenomenal effort after the punishing weight loss. Chen will have five months to prepare for a rematch as China will skip the next Olympic qualifier, the IWF Grand Prix in Cuba in June, and focus on the IWF World Championships in Saudi Arabia in September. It was a fourth Asian title for Li, 30, whose first came way back in 2012. His consistency is evident in the numbers: his past four totals have been within a range of 3kg. If age catches up with either Li or Chen, Silachai looks sure to take advantage. The 19-year old was the only man in the field to make all six lifts, a point he made by standing aside and pointing down to the barbell with both hands after completing his final attempts in snatch and clean and jerk. Why did he do that? “I wanted to make the point that this is easy,” he joked afterwards. Silachai took junior world records in clean and jerk by 4kg and total by 3kg as he made 132-167-299. He also has two junior world records at 55kg, made when he won on his international debut four months ago at the IWF World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia. Silachai comes from the same area as Pawina Thongsuk, a winner at Athens 2004, and has been in weightlifting for nine years after starting out in football. “My dream when I was very young was to play for the national team as a footballer,” he said. “But now my dream is to win an Olympic gold medal. “I am so happy with this – I will go back to the hotel and watch my world records on playback,” he said after surpassing his expectations in snatch, clean and jerk and total. He said he had been training hard for this competition for one and a half years. The slew of red lights at the start meant four of the nine athletes were out of the contest very early, and Silachai’s team-mate Teerapat Chomchuen joined them by withdrawing. By comparison the four lifters who survived the snatch had only one missed attempt between them. Ricko Saputra from Indonesia, who took bronze in snatch, missed only his final clean and jerk and made a career-best 133-165-298.  The four who failed were Shin Rok from Korea – who failed to make a total in Bogotá too – Seyitjan Mirzayev from Turkmenistan, who also missed all three clean and jerks, Commonwealth Games winner Muhamad Aznil from Malaysia, and Trinh Van Vinh, the third Vietnamese athlete to bomb out in two days here. There was another highly impressive performance by a teenager when Chen Guan Ling from Chinese Taipei won the women’s 55kg in style. Chen, 18, made five from six to finish well clear on 90-114-204 in only her second competition, having finished ninth on 190kg at the same weight in Colombia in December. Bindyarani Sorokhaibam from India was out of the medals in the snatch but moved up to second place on 83-111-194, with Vo Thi Quynh third for Vietnam on 88-104-192. Uzbekistan’s Jamila Panfilova was third in snatch and clean and jerk but fourth on total. Another China 1-2 is possible on Sunday in the women’s 59kg but this time the field includes two Olympic champions from elsewhere, Kuo Hsing-Chun from Chinese Taipei and Hidilyn Diaz from the Philippines, as well as Diaz’s team-mate Elreen Ando. A big crowd is expected at the Jinju Arena because the non-Olympic men’s 67kg category features home favourite Sangyeon Lee. By Brian Oliver, Inside the

Jinju, Day 1: China and Thailand get Asian Championships off to top-quality start

China’s Jiang Huihua just failed with a world record attempt and Thailand won its first continental title in six years on day one of the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jinju, Korea. It was a good day all round for both nations, and also for Vietnam despite bombouts for its first two athletes. This is a qualifier for the Olympic Games and if anybody deserves a place at Paris 2024 it is Jiang, who has won three world titles and has never finished outside the first two in any competition in a career that began in 2013. She has never lifted at the Olympic Games, though. In a very high-quality women’s 49kg session Jiang made her first five lifts to improve her No 1 position in the rankings by 1kg, but failed with a final attempt at 120kg that would have given her world records in clean and jerk and total. For the first time at this weight the top four finishers, from China and Thailand, all made totals of 200kg or more. That number might have been five – the same as the number of world champions in a formidable line-up - but for Mirabai Chanu declining her final two attempts. The Olympic silver medallist from India spent many weeks recovering from back and shoulder injuries and did not want to risk another setback after making a total of 194kg. Chanu, 28, already has a 200kg total from the first Olympic qualifier, the IWF World Championships in Colombia last December, where Jiang was also the winner. Jiang made 94-113-207 – her eighth straight total of 200kg-plus – ahead of her team-mate and Olympic champion Hou Zhihui on 93-111-204. Hou improved on her World Championships performance by 6kg. Thanyathon Sukcharoen, the 45kg world champion, was third in the snatch and made six from six for 90-110-200, but was edged out of third place on total because her team-mate Surodchana Khambao got to 200kg before her. Although she made only three good lifts, Khambao also finished on 90-110-200. The Japanese lifter Rira Suzuki missed her first attempt then made the next five to finish fifth from the B Group and move into the Paris top 10 with 83-111-194. Asked about the quality of the competition and her Olympic chances, Jiang said afterwards, “Yes, it's rare to see so many lifters over 200 in total at this category in all my years of competition, which proves that everyone is improving now. “It is true that the last two Olympics I missed the opportunity. This time I will hold on to it. I hope I could go to Paris, which will prove myself an excellent athlete and leave no regrets in my sports career. “My training before the Asian Championships was quite good, especially snatch, which helps improve my confidence and the feeling of strength. Snatch was pretty much what I expected, but it was a pity that the 120 clean and jerk failed. The clean was quite light, but the jerk was weak because I got a bit dizzy.” Earlier, Thailand won its first Asian Championships title since Sukcharoen claimed the old 48kg gold (under her previous forename Thunya) in 2017. Siriwimon Pramongkhol made 77-100-177 to take the women’s 45kg, the opening event of the Championships. Pramongkhol has also changed her forename: as Chayuttra she was one of the nine Thai lifters disqualified for doping at the 2018 IWF World Championships, where her winning total at 49kg was 209kg, nearly 30kg higher than today. Thailand’s programme of reforms is off to a good start in Olympic qualifying and there is also progress off the platform. Rose Jean Ramos from the Philippines was well back in second place on 73-88-161, and the Indonesian Siti Hariroh was third on 71-88-159. Vietnam, who prepared with a training camp in China, came within one lift of a hat-trick of bombouts before a recovery gave them a 1-2 finish in the men’s 55kg. The first two Vietnamese lifters of the day both failed with all three snatch attempts, last year’s winner Khong My Phuong in the women’s 45kg and Nguyen Hoai Huong in the 49kg B Group. Do Tu Tung then failed with his first two snatch attempts but made his third, then all three clean and jerks for 116-147-263. That was a career-best for Do, twice Asian junior champion and still young enough to lift in the juniors at 19. His team-mate Ngo Son Dinh was second on 117-143-260 and snatch winner Arli Chontey of Kazakhstan edged out Saudi Arabia’s Mansour Al Saleem for third place on 117-141-258. Al Mansour was third in the snatch, where Do was out of the medals, and also took bronze in clean and jerk but was fourth on total. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games

Asian Championships: China and Kazakhstan set to make mark in Paris weightlifting rankings

Chinese weightlifters are top of the Paris 2024 rankings in four of the 10 weight categories, and after the Asian Championships which start in Jinju, Korea on Friday they may take that number up to seven or eight. High altitude at the first Olympic qualifier, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in Bogota, Colombia in December appeared to affect China as much as most other teams and their results were below their best. While the Korean hosts have targeted the non-Olympic classes in search of medals, China’s big guns are interested in the Olympic categories. They have two top contenders in seven sessions and Li Wenwen – who is on a different level to all her fellow women’s super-heavyweights – going it alone. China is not interested in the two heaviest men’s classes and has three athletes in two non-Olympic categories, 67kg and 96kg. Kazakhstan will also be expecting their men to improve their Olympic hopes. Nurgissa Adiletuly is likely to be their main contender if he can bring recent training numbers to the competition platform in the men’s 102kg. Kazakhstan’s Artyom Antropov was alongside 22-year-old Adiletuly in the preliminary entries but he has moved up to 109kg, as has the Rio 2016 champion Ruslan Nurudinov from Uzbekistan. Nurudinov won at 105kg and has not competed below that weight since 2011. Alexey Churkin at 73kg and Sergey Petrovich at 89kg could also move up the rankings for Kazakhstan. There are likely to be big changes to the rankings after the men’s 61kg because all nine A Group lifters have entry totals big enough to make the current top eight. Two Chinese Olympic champions go head to head, the 61kg and 67kg winners Li Fabin and Chen Lijun. Chen has not competed at such a low weight since he began his career by taking the junior world title in 2010, when he weighed in at 60.88kg in the old 62kg category. The 73kg is wide open because Rahmat Erwin and Rizki Juniansyah from Indonesia, one and two in the Paris standings, have opted to chase medals in the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia on May 14, and China’s Olympic champion Shi Zhiyong is expected to sit out the session here. Shi, who is in the B Group here, also withdrew in Colombia, along with many others there and at the subsequent Pan American and European Championships. Entering to comply with anti-doping requirements, weighing in and being introduced to the crowd counts as a “participation” in qualifying, where only the single best total from a minimum of five “participations” counts in the rankings. Tian Tao has not competed for more than two years because of injury setbacks and here he will be at his lightest since finishing second to Kianoush Rostami at 85kg in Rio. The two meet again at 89kg, with Li Dayin adding further quality. Rostami is said to be in good form, while Tian Tao, the 96kg clean and jerk world record holder, has made totals above 400kg five times since he went up in weight after Rio. It will be a surprise if everybody lifts at 102kg, where the entries include the Tokyo 96kg winner Meso Hassona, Bahrain’s 96kg world champion Lesman Paredes, and the Rio 94kg champion Sohrab Moradi, from Iran. Moradi is making a steady recovery after bad shoulder and back injuries and goes in the B Group, with his team-mate Reza Dehdar lifting in the A session. He might yet make it into the Paris top 10 here. Despite the fact that the field features Olympic and world champions, two of them world record holders, Adiletuly is free of fitness worries and could surprise them, as could Korea’s Jin Yunseong. In the women’s events Chinese athletes have a huge advantage, which is evident in the entry totals: there are wide gaps between the best from China and the rest in some classes. Mirabai Chanu from India is a Tokyo silver medallist and former world champion, but she is not even sure to make the podium at 49kg, where Jiang Huihua and Hou Zhihui are China’s contenders. Chanu, who has never done better than third place in the Asian Championships, has had a lengthy rehabilitation from back and shoulder injuries since she made a 200kg total at the IWF World Championships. China’s Luo Shifang was below her best in Colombia and can improve at 59kg, where Pei Xinyi joins her. The Tokyo 59kg winner Kuo Hsing-chun from Chinese Taipei will make it a high-class contest, as will the presence of Olympic 55kg champion Hidilyn Diaz. Diaz has moved higher up the weights for only the second time in a career that began in 2008, and her Philippines team-mate Elreen Ando may do better here. At 71kg and 81kg China can finish 1-2, respectively through Liao Guifang and Zeng Tiantian, then Wang Zhouyu and Liang Xiaomei. In the super-heavyweights, Li Wenwen is on a different level. Korea can give home supporters plenty to cheer, most notably through Sangyeon Lee in the men’s 67kg. Lee was badly injured in 2018, and made only two good lifts in finishing sixth on his comeback in Colombia, where Korea also suffered from altitude problems. Korea has good medal hopes in the men’s 81kg and 96kg, and the women’s 76kg where Kim Suhyeon could put on a show, as she did in finishing third at the World Championships. Of the 100 top-ranked lifters for Paris – the top 10 in all 10 weight classes – 26 got there with a total made at a continental championships, either the Pan Americans in Argentina or the Europeans in Armenia. After the Asian Championships, which run until May 13, that number is likely to be way higher. By Brian Oliver, Inside the