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Junior Worlds wound up with surprising team result

Mercedes Perez (227kg in 63kg) of Colombia was chosen to receive the ELEIKO-IWF Press Commission's Best Female Lifter Trophy of this year's edition of Junior World Championships, held in Prague. Perez helped her team of seven members to gold medals and to becoming winner of the team ranking over China, which brought only six lifters to the Czech capital. In the 69kg, another Colombian, Leidi Yessenia Solis took the honours in total. Hripsime Khurshudyan of Armenia excelled in the 75kg, while the always-crucial +75kg overall title was captured by Chinese Huang Huan, just one kilo over Kazakhstan's Mariya Grabovetskaya (278 against 277kg).In the men's field, Russian athletes (8) excelled, winning the team classification, however, in the Medal Table China (with only 7 lifters) stands at the top with 7 gold medals. In the categories of 85kg to 105kg, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarus athletes took turns on the medal podium, while the "most cherished" gold medals, those in the +105kg, were captured by Alberto Pupo of Cuba - though with a moderate result only. The final attendance of the 2007 Junior World Championships came to 280 (100 women, 180 men), of which the IWF subjected 38.5% to anti-doping controls. The Czech Federation should be thanked for hosting the Championships in beautiful and historic

Technical Officials’ nomination to Chiangmai World Championships

National Federations may forward the nomination of Technical Officials to the IWF, before 30 June 2007, to the 2007 World Championships.You can read the conditions of the nomination here: TOff_call_letter.pdfDownload Nomination Form:

After Chinese doubles, Europe’s singles enter scene

In the men's 69kg at the Prague Junior Worlds the Chinese deployed double crew with Zheng Zhisheng and Tang Fei, who shared most of the gold and silver medals in a brotherly way. Arayik Mirzoyan of Armenia could clinch one silver and two bronze medals, while one bronze was left to Gert Trasha of Albania (in Snatch). The 33-member strong field in the 77kg then finally brought success for the Europeans, so far left out of the power game. Siarhei Lahun of Belarus triumphed in total, based on his 8kg lead from the snatch on Albanian Erkand Qerimaj. The latter, like last year, again became world champion in clean and jerk and silver medallist in total. Chinese Zhang Shichong was chasing BLR and ALB all through the contest and his efforts were rewarded by three medals: one in silver and two in bronze.The men's 85kg medal podium showed the same setup in snatch, jerk and total: RUS - MDA - RUS. Alexandr Ivanov took the gold medals, Anatol Ciricu (MDA) was given the silvers and Aslan Bideev (RUS) took over the three bronze

Women: Colombia takes over

In the women's 58kg, Li Xueying finally played what we call the "Chinese Game". In a standalone contest with the barbell, in six good and effortless lifts she defeated the runner up Thai, Chapok Natthaneeya and bronze-medallist Korean Yura Mun by round 20 kilos.  In contrast, the following two categories surprised with sweeping Colombian victories. Mercedes Perez dominated the 63kg, capturing her country's 5th and 6th gold medals. She overtook her Chinese rival, Jiang Xia by 6 kilos overall. Armenian prodigy, this year's European champion and junior world record holder Meline Daluzyan shone only in snatch, as she failed three times at 124kg in clean and jerk. In the 69kg, 17-year old Leidy Yessenia Solis followed her compatriot's example and won with an impressive 237kg total, five kilos ahead of Chinese Li Juan. The Colombian woman confirmed her nation's position as the new superpower in women's

The Chinese are coming

After the disappointments of the first day, the Chinese weightlifters delivered as expected in the next two bodyweight categories of the Junior World Championships.In the women`s 53kg category they captured 2 gold medals, later on in the men`s 62kg two Chinese entries collected 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal.It was a surprise among the women that newcomer Yang Dewan defeated last year`s winner Suda Chalephay. The Thai girl in 2006 swept not only the juniors but also the seniors, as she had finished in third place in Dominica. In snatch, however, she made a zero and had to settle for the clean and jerk gold medal. The winner, Yang performed six good lifts.Asia dominated the men`s 62kg competition. China and Indonesia shared the medals. Liu Xin gained only one kilo advantage in snatch before Triyatno (INA) and the other Chinese Zhang Jie. The clean and jerk turned over the ranking, because Zhang Jie outlifted Liu by two, Triyatno by six kilograms and took the total gold. Surprisingly, last year`s silver medallist Russian Sergey Petrosyan could not get a single medal.Results:

Indonesian man gets first ever gold medal

A surprise start at the 2007 Men`s and Women`s Junior Worlds. It used to be a "rule" that in the lightest categories for both men and women China would collect six gold medals.In Prague, however, Chinese weightlifters won only one gold medal. Nevertheless, some surprise results were born on the platform in exciting battles.In both the women`s 48kg and men`s 56kg competitions there was a tie in the first place, leaving the bodyweight to decide who is the winner. New world champions were crowned: in 48kg Sibel Ozkan, TUR - although she did not count as the number one favourite - stole the show (181kg). In the men's 56kg Eko Yuli Irawan's victory was not altogether unexpected (273kg). Irawan is credited with being the first ever lifter of Indonesia to capture the world title (two at once) among the men - including seniors and juniors.Genny Pagliaro of Italy defended her former title in snatch and in total she won her first silver.Results are