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IWF Press Release – Executive Board meeting

Following an online meeting of its Executive Board (EB) today, the IWF decided to endorse and apply the IOC’s “Recommendations for International Federations and international sports event organisers on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions.” These conditions relate to the eligibility criteria which athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport must adhere to in order to take part in IWF competitions, as well as the observance of their strict neutrality status during their participation in those events. As part of this process, individual checks will be performed by independent agencies on all athletes and respective support personnel with Russian or Belarusian passports, who are aiming to take part in IWF competitions. The IWF would like to highlight that this decision, also strongly supported by the IWF Athletes Commission, represents the best possible balance between, maintaining the IWF’s ongoing position of solidarity with Ukraine and the need to preserve as much as possible the opportunity for all individual neutral athletes to practice sport irrespective of their nationalities. From the beginning of this profound crisis, which deeply affects the conduct of international sport, the IWF has been mindful to observe the recommendations issued by the International Olympic Committee. Relevant documents: IWF PolicyDeclaration &

Jinju, Day 8: Gold for Kazakhstan, and Iran’s 2016 Olympic champion Moradi starts Paris quest at 34

One of Iran’s greatest weightlifters is hoping to put his injury nightmares behind him after beginning his attempt to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the age of 34. On a day when Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan had their first winners of the week at the Asian Championships here, Sohrab Moradi started in the 102kg B Group with a 362kg total that will put him outside the top 25 in the ranking list. At the top is Nurgissa Adiletuly, Kazakhstan’s first winner of the week who is the only man to have totalled 400kg in qualifying so far. Rio 2016 champion Moradi has to move into the top 10 to earn a place in Paris, where he will lift one month before his 36th birthday if he makes it. This was his first competition in more than two years after serious back and shoulder injuries wrecked his chances of qualifying for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He was so dominant before then that he still holds the total world record of 416kg at 96kg and all three in the old 94kg class that was dropped in 2018. Moradi is going “step by step” and believes he can find the improvement he needs, as do his coaches and his federation. Sajjad Anoushiravani, Olympic silver medallist and president of the Iran Weightlifting Federation, said, “I guarantee you, Sohrab will be in Paris.” Coach Vahid Rabiei explained that Moradi had undergone shoulder labrum surgery for a second time 10 months ago, and had been in training since he recovered. “He is better now, the doctors are happy and we all want to help him,” said Rabiei. Moradi made his first two snatches and his first clean and jerk, and retired on 162-200-362 after missing his fifth lift at 210kg. The Olympic and world champions Meso Hassona from Qatar and Lesman Parades from Bahrain both withdrew from the A Group after weighing in and will wait for full fitness before trying to match or better Adiletuly’s 400kg. Despite the presence of Olympic and world champions and world record holders in the entries, 22-year-old Adiletuly was not overawed. “I knew about Meso, Lesman and the others, I knew it would be a tough job competing here so I made sure I was fully ready,” he said. “My coaches told me that if I made six good lifts and a total of 400kg I would win, so all I have been thinking about in training is ‘six lifts, six lifts’. “The support of my family and the Kazakhstan nation really helped me to lift the bar.” It all worked out because Adiletuly, who shouted “Kazakhstan!” before each attempt, made all six, never looked like missing and hit the target on 181-219-400. Two Koreans were on the podium alongside Adiletuly on total. Jin Yunseong failed with his final attempt at 221kg and finished second on 180-218-398, just ahead of team-mate Jang Yeonhak, who won snatch gold and made 182-210-392. Bekdoolot Rasulbekov from Kyrgyzstan won bronze in clean and jerk on 217kg and Chen Po-Jen of Chinese Taipei was a snatch bronze medallist on 181kg. Only Adiletuly and Jin have posted bigger totals in Paris qualifying than the top two at 89kg, so plenty of movement in the rankings is expected over the coming months. Another Rio 2016 winner, the 105kg champion Ruslkan Nurudinov from Uzbekistan, was originally entered at 102kg but lifted instead at 109kg, where he made six from six to win. Nurudinov had to finish off with 228kg to claim gold and, cheered on by a small but noisy group of fans, he did it, finishing 177-228-405. It was another good session for Kazakhstan, whose two athletes finished second and third. Artyom Antropov had one failure in making 172-229-399 and Andas Samarkanov took bronze on 169-221-390. The snatch winner Ali Ammar Yusur from Iraq was fourth on 178-211-389 and Mehdi Karami from Iran, third in snatch, was fifth on total on 384kg. By Brian Oliver, Inside the Games

Jinju, Day 7: Good day for hosts Korea and China wins again at Asian Championships

It was supposed to be a case of "anything you can do, I can do better" on day seven of the Asian Championships here in Jinju, but it did not go quite to plan for Liu Huanhua. The Chinese lifter won yet another title for his all-conquering team but, unlike his team-mates Li Dayin and Tian Tao the day before, he was not able to show world-record form. It was a good day for the hosts, as Korean lifters finished second in both the day’s medal events, the men’s 96 kilograms and women’s 87kg. Even if he had made either of his last two attempts Liu, 22, would not have gone into the record books because he was bumped up from 89kg to 96kg. Liu had been entered at 89kg along with Li and Tian Tao - who was there making a video on his phone as Liu tried to outlift him - before China’s coaches cut three to two and put Liu in the heavier category. He weighed in only 48 grams over the 89kg limit, giving most of his rivals a body weight advantage of more than six kilograms, and was clearly delighted to make 180kg in the snatch. After successfully starting with 210kg in clean and jerk, where he is stronger, Liu jumped to 223kg, which was one kilogram more than Tian Tao made in setting a world record at 89kg yesterday. He had two tries, had to work exceptionally hard to make the clean and failed with both. Liu had already done enough to win, making 175-210-390, but was unable to show team-mate Tian Tao that he could do even better than a world record. Sarat Sumpradit from Thailand, who equalled that 390kg total in the old 94kg category when he was fourth at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, might have taken second place but for two failures. He finished third on 173-207-380 after Korea’s Won Jonbeong made up ground in the clean and jerk.  Won took second place on 171-211-382. In a low-key women’s 87kg session, only the winner Lo Ying-Yuan from Chinese Taipei made a total bigger than China’s top two way down in the 59kg category earlier this week. Lo, oldest in the field at 26, made 110-131-241 ahead of the Korean Yun Ha Je on 99-132-231 and Rigina Adashbaeva from Uzbekistan on 103-127-230. Turkmenistan’s Anamjan Rustamova claimed snatch bronze on 102kg and Aisha Omarova of Kazakhstan was third in clean and jerk. China has no entries tomorrow but looks sure to add another title on Saturday (May 13) when Li Wenwen lifts in the women’s super-heavyweights. By Brian Oliver, Inside the

Jinju, Day 6: Three more world records for unstoppable China at Asian Championships

Another three world records, another two playings of their national anthem and another European knocked off the top of the Paris rankings - all in a day’s work for Team China at the Asian Championships in Jinju (KOR). Li Dayin went up to the heaviest weight of his career, Tian Tao went down and both men claimed 89 kilograms world records in a one-two finish, China’s fourth in six days here. There was another one-two for the world’s best weightlifting team when Liang Xiaomei and Wang Zhouyu, the top two in the Olympic rankings, outclassed the rest in the women’s 81kg. Winner Li had two world records, 180kg in the snatch and 396kg in total, while Tian Tao came out at the finish to make a record-breaking 222kg clean and jerk. Between them both men took away Karlos Nasar’s two world records in a week when the Bulgarian teenager suffered a serious injury that will severely disrupt his progress towards Paris 2024. Nasar becomes the third European to lose top spot in the Olympic rankings here, after Chinese women had overtaken the Ukrainian Kamila Konotop and Romania’s Loredana Toma. Tian Tao knows what it is like to move up and down the weights, having shot up from 85kg to 96kg after finishing second at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He had to shed seven kilograms for this competition and said: "It’s very tough." By contrast Li went up from 81kg and although it was difficult for him too he said: "The process itself is actually quite enjoyable, eating more, gaining weight and gaining power as you do it." At 88.48kg Li, 25, was at the heaviest weight of an international career that began in 2018.  When he competed at this weight once before, in 2019, he weighed less than 86kg. Li made 180-216-396, while Tian Tao had two snatch failures in his 165-222-387. "The snatch wasn’t so good, not my best," he said. Tian Tao said that the two team-mates enjoyed training together, that they both wanted to be selected for Paris and win gold. Li said: "The atmosphere in the team is very good, we cheer for each other, support each other." At the European Championships in Armenia last month Nasar was the only lifter to make a clean and jerk above 200kg. Here both Chinese athletes did it, as well as Mir Mostafa from Iran, Yu Dongju from Korea and Amur Al Khanjari from Oman, who had a career-best total of 357kg in sixth place. Mostafa was third on 159-205-364, and Emil Moldodosov from Kyrgyzstan claimed the snatch silver on 166kg. China’s second one-two of the day came when world champion Liang Xiaomei won the women’s 81kg ahead of Olympic 87kg champion Wang Zhouyu. Liang made six from six for 120-155-275, moving nine kilograms clear of Wang in the rankings.  Wang, who will be 29 at the weekend, missed three attempts and finished 115-146-261. Ankha Munkhjantsan from Mongolia was third, declining her last two attempts to finish 108-135-243 and put herself in a reasonable position in the Paris rankings. Japan had rare world records to cheer when 16-year-old Wakana Nagashima made 100-135-235 for sixth place, setting youth world records in clean and jerk and total. Korea had its first win of the week when Kim Suhyeon took the women’s 76kg on 109-134-243, which was two kilograms lower than her bronze medal total at the IWF World Championships. In a field of five, the smallest field of the Championships, Kim finished ahead of Thailand’s Siriyakorn Khaipandung, the snatch winner, on 110-127-237.  Kim’s team-mate Lee Min Ji made it two medals for the host nation by finishing third on 100-128-228. By Brian Oliver, Inside the

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