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African Championships: Samir wins for dominant Egypt, and it’s down to the wire for Nigeria and Madagascar

A rush of winners in the heavier weight categories for men and women took host nation Egypt clear at the top of the medals table at the 2024 African Championships in Ismailia. Sara Samir was among them as she claimed her ninth continental title as a youth, junior and senior. Samir declined her final attempt in the 81kg category after making five good lifts for 113-140-253. Sara Samir (EGY) Like all continental championships this month, this was an Olympic qualifier. Egypt's biggest gain in the rankings was made by Karim Abokahla at 89kg, where his 170-211-381 took him ahead of Italy’s Tokyo medallist Nino Pizzolato into sixth place. That is only 6kg below Abokahla’s best total in the 102kg rankings, where he is just outside the top 10.   Karim Abokahla (EGY) Other Paris-bound Egyptian winners were Neama Said and Halima Abbas. Said, sixth in the 71kg list, moved up to 76kg where she made 100-130-230, and Abbas took the super-heavyweights on 117-145-262. Walid Bidani from Algeria had a bad day in the men’s super-heavyweights, bombing out in clean and jerk after making 203kg in snatch. Bouamr Bilal from Morocco was 51kg behind at halfway, and won on 152-185-337. The news got worse for Bidani when he dropped down the rankings after results at the Asian Championships a day later. Nigeria won two of the women’s Olympic categories but made no gains in the lists and will need improvement at the IWF World Cup in Thailand, which brings the qualifying programme to a close when it ends on April 11. Rafiatu Lawal and Adijat Olarinoye, first and second at 59kg, were both well down on their best qualifying efforts. Lawal made 95-119-214 and Olarinoye 94-115-209 with only two good lifts. Joy Eze had a good chance to move into the top 10 at 71kg but missed her last two attempts. Eze moved up from 19th to 13th in making 104-130-234 but had been lifting more in her preparations. Other nations with work to do in Thailand are Tunisia and Madagascar, both of which have hopes of qualifying two athletes. It will be a huge task for Ghofrane Belkhir, who weighed in without lifting in the women’s 59kg and has a few more weeks to regain full fitness after an injury that has stopped her competing for more than a year. She remains one of only two athletes among 600 in the rankings who have a zero total but could yet qualify with a big effort in Thailand. The other is Enzo Kuworge from the Netherlands in the men’s super-heavyweights, who has also been injured. Ben Hnia (TUN) Another who has had injury problems is Belkhir’s Tunisia team-mate Karem Ben Hnia. He declined three of his attempts in winning the men’s 73kg on 145-175-320. In the Paris rankings he is 1kg ahead of Tojo Andriatsitsohaina from Madagascar, who bombed out in clean and jerk after snatching 146kg. It will be a tense finish in Thailand. Either of them could make the top 10, and if neither makes it they will be head-to-head for a continental place. Madagascar’s other hope is Rosina Randafiarison, who showed signs of improvement in making 74-95-169 in the women’s 49kg. It was her best effort since moving up from 45kg and she has a 4kg lead over Dika Toua from Papua New Guinea in the race for a continental slot. Toua, aiming for a record sixth Olympic Games, competes in the Oceania Championships in New Zealand later this month. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio

Tashkent, Day 8: Man Asaad back from injury to surprise Minasyan – and it’s a good day for Iraq and Japan 

Olympic bronze medallist Man Asaad returned to the international platform for the first time in 14 months and achieved both his aims in an exciting super-heavyweight session in Tashkent – victory in the Asian Championships and a continental record in clean and jerk.  On the final day of competition there were also moves in the rankings by the Iraqi teenager Ali Yusur and the popular Japanese Eishiro “Tank” Murakami, both of whom improved their best qualifying total by 8kg.  At 109kg there was gold for the host nation’s hero Ruslan Nurudinov and a first medal for UAE.  Man Asaad (SYR) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport Asaad’s targets looked optimistic. A shoulder injury plagued him throughout 2023, and to reach them he had to beat the double Asian champion Gor Minasyan from Bahrain, who finished one place ahead of him in Tokyo and is second in the rankings for Paris 2024.  While Asaad has been recovering and training in Damascus, Minasyan has won Asian Games gold, his second Asian title, and been on the podium at the World Championships.  This time he failed with his third snatch and his last two clean and jerks. That left Minasyan on 207-236-443, ahead of Asaad by 14kg. If the Syrian could make 252kg he would have gold and that Asian record. He jumped 15kg to make the lift and declined his final attempt, finishing 192-252-444.  “I’ve done what I set out to do. Now I need to work on my snatch, then I can think about more far-away targets like Paris,” he said. Asaad and Minasyan are so far up the Olympic rankings they do not need to lift in the final qualifier, the IWF World Cup in Thailand which ends on April 11. They may opt for weigh-in only.  Yusur moved one place up the rankings to ninth after a huge improvement on his best clean and jerk. Like Asaad he made only one snatch, finishing 191-234-425 for third place ahead of Rustam Djangabaev from Uzbekistan. “That is 13 kilos more than my best clean and jerk,” said Yusur, 19, who failed with two attempts at a junior snatch world record of 199kg. “Next time there will be more.”  Murakami boosted his qualifying chances when he moved from 12th into the top 10 from the B Group. He was ninth for a couple of hours after making 190-231-421, but dropped down one place when Yusur made 4kg more than him.  “Tank is looking good for Paris!” he said. “I will lift in Thailand and I know I can make more because my national record is 425.”  Hojamuhammet Toycchyev from Turkmenistan, fourth in Tokyo, withdrew from the B Group after weigh-in and needs to improve by about 25kg in Thailand if he is to qualify for Paris. He has been troubled by a right knee injury and has bettered 400kg only once in qualifying, leaving him 15th in the rankings.  Ruslan Nurudinov (UZB) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport Nurudinov has no chance of qualifying for Paris, where there is no 109kg category, and made hard work of his 175-207-382, which was 50kg lower than his best total in a career that began in 2009. The highlight was Olympic gold in 2016. After making his second clean and jerk he retired, and was soon flat out in the warm-up area with ice packs on his back.  Men's +109Kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sport “That was painful,” he said. “I’m 32, I have a back injury and I’m feeling my age, but I won’t retire yet. I will continue until November, the World Championships in Bahrain, and try to finish with a medal.” Nurudinov’s 21-year-old team-mate Sharofiddin Amriddinov won the snatch and finished 176-205-381. Amriddinov made all six lifts, as did the only other athlete in the field, Ezzeddin Al Ghafeer from UAE – his country’s first ever medallist at the Asian Championships on 167-201-368. By Brian Oliver

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