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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

Tashkent, Day 3: Two more wins for PRK and a first senior medal for Oman

DPR Korea kept up its 100 per cent record at the Asian Championships in Tashkent by winning both the men’s 67kg and women’s 59kg. That means the scoreboard after seven medal events reads PRK seven titles, everybody else none.PRK is likely to extend that to eight on Tuesday in the women’s 64kg, but another anthem will be heard after the men’s 73kg because PRK does not have an entry.This time there were no world records as Ri Won Ju won the 67kg by a wide margin and Kim Il Gyong needed only one clean and jerk to win the women’s Olympic 59kg category. Kim failed with her second clean and jerk and declined her final attempt. Elyas Tamim (OMA) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportAnother highlight of the day was a first senior medal for Oman at the Asian Championships, when Elyas Tamim took bronze in snatch and finished fourth on total. His team-mate Amur Al-Khanjari also has a chance of making the podium when he lifts at 89kg on Thursday. Both men spent a year training in Uzbekistan and now train in Iran.Ri had a clear run to victory when the only man capable of challenging him withdrew after weighing in. Eko Yuli Irawan, who made his international debut in 2006 when Ri was three years old, has had a punishing schedule and his decision was no surprise.This was a seventh competition in 14 months for Irawan, the 34-year-old Indonesian who is trying to become the first weightlifter in history to win a medal at five consecutive Olympic Games.After posting a career-best total in Cuba in June and matching it at the World Championships, Irawan bombed out in clean and jerk in the Asian Games and the IWF Grand Prix in Qatar – the only time in 18 years when he has failed to make a total. Ri Won Ju (PRK) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportRi, 21, was 9kg clear at halfway and 25kg ahead of Sairamkez Akmolda from Kazakhstan at the finish. Ri made 137-180-317, and Akmolda 126-166-292. Teerawat Ratphet from Thailand was third on his international debut. Ratphet, 24, was second in snatch and made 128-158-286.This was Ri’s third international competition, all in the past four months. On his debut he came close to defeating the Chinese Olympic champion and world record holder Chen Lijun at the Asian Games, where he failed with his final attempt. Today Ri went for Chen’s clean and jerk world record with a final attempt of 189kg, but again he failed.Arguably the happiest man on the podium was Tamim. “I am too, too happy. I have been a weightlifter for 11 years and this is my first medal and my country’s first medal,” he said.Tamim, 25, and his sole team-mate Al-Khanjari are in familiar surroundings, having been coached in Uzbekistan for a year. In the past few months they have been based in Iran and coached by the Sydney 2000 gold medallist Hossein Tavakoli.“It’s going well, very nice there, very good conditions,” said Tamim, who made 127-157-284 to improve his best Olympic ranking total by 2kg. He is too far down the list to make it to Paris but Al-Khanjari is closer at 89kg, 14kg short of the top ten in 21st place. Women's 59kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportHu Jyun-Siang from Chinese Taipei made 164kg for a bronze medal in clean and jerk after bombing out in snatch.There were plenty more bombouts in the women’s session, in which Kim was a clear winner. In making 103-122-225 she was more than 20kg down on her best total, and was PRK’s first female champion not to set at least one world record here.Third-placed Natasya Beteyob from Indonesia made 96-116-212 to improve her best Olympic ranking total by 2kg but it was a bad day for five others.Elreen Ando from the Philippines, 10th in the extended list, failed with three attempts in her 93-120-213, which was good enough for second place but 9kg down on her best qualifying total.Enkhtamir Enkhbaatar from Mongolia was 28kg below her best in fifth place with a total of 178kg, and three others bombed out. Sarah from Indonesia and Thanaporn Saetia from Thailand failed with all three clean and jerks, while Quang Thi Tam from Vietnam tried and failed six times. By Brian

Tashkent, Day 2: Five straight wins for unstoppable PRK – and three more world records

DPR Korea continued its record-breaking run of success by making it five wins from five medal events at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. There were three more world records, too, as the day’s three winners collectively finished 67kg clear of the silver medallists.In the 18 weeks since they returned from an extended absence of nearly four years that kept them out of the Tokyo Olympic Games – a result of the country’s response to the Covid pandemic – PRK weightlifters have been unstoppable.They have set 12 world records and have topped the medals table at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China and the IWF Grand Prix in Qatar. With six PRK athletes yet to compete between tomorrow and Thursday, and China absent, they seem sure to be the top nation again here in Uzbekistan. Women's 49kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportTheir first winner today was Ri Song Gum in the women’s 49kg, which she won by 29kg. Pak Myong Jin was 15kg clear in the men’s 61kg, and Kang Hyon Gyong completed the hat-trick by finishing 23kg ahead of world champion Chen Guan-Ling, from Chinese Taipei, in the women’s 55kg.PRK could take its record to eight from eight over the next two days, because it has the favourite in the next three categories – women’s 59kg and 64kg, and men’s 67kg. The good news for everybody else is that there is no PRK athlete in the men’s 73kg on Tuesday.A delighted Ri waved to the crowd as she celebrated a final attempt that gave her two world records.While her rivals struggled to hit top form, Ri made 95-125-220 to take the clean and jerk world record from China’s Olympic champion Hou Zhihui and better her own mark on total.Rira Suzuki from Japan, who declined her final attempt in making 82-109-191, was second and Rosegie Ramos from the Philippines was third on 88-102-190.Unlike Suzuki, Ramos and most others here, PRK’s athletes are not chasing gains in the Olympic rankings because they are not eligible to qualify for Paris 2024. They missed too many qualifying opportunities during their absence.If she was eligible, Ri would be 4kg clear at the top of the rankings ahead of Jiang Huihua from China. Jiang and her team-mates are not competing in Tashkent, preferring to focus instead on training for the IWF World Cup in Thailand which runs from March 31-April 11 and ends the Olympic qualifying programme.In three appearances since PRK’s return, Ri has won gold at the Asian Games and Asian Championships, finished second to Jiang in Qatar, and set four world records.Only two of 11 women improved their ranking total, Lin Cheng-Jin from Chinese Taipei by 1kg and Klarisa Juliana from Indonesia by 5kg from the B Group, but none moved up into the all-important top 10. Those who fell short of their best total included Surodchana Khambao from Thailand, Shin Jaegyong from Korea, Windy Aisah from Indonesia, plus medallists Suzuki and Ramos.It was a similar story in the next session when PRK won and nobody made ground in the Paris rankings.Pak made five from six in his 134-172-306. Ricko Saputra from Indonesia made only two good lifts in second place on 130-161-291, failing with his final two attempts when he needed 10kg more to overtake team-mate Eko Yuli Irawan in the rankings. Men's 61kg podium - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportLee Hyeseong from Korea won snatch silver on his international debut before dropping to fourth on total on 286kg. Lee, 29, made 1kg more than his world champion team-mate Shin Rok, who lifted in the B Group.Shin Rok opened on 125kg before missing two attempts in both snatch and clean and jerk. The 2021 world champion posted 125-160-285, which was 2kg below his best qualifying total.The 21-year-old has had two bombouts and made only 10 good lifts from 30 attempts in qualifying but he remains optimistic. He has had a knee problem and believes there is more to come. “Today was good - I can do it in Thailand, I can qualify for Paris,” Shin Rok said.His target is 135-170, he said. That would be good enough to make him an Olympic medal contender, but he would surely need a six-from-six performance in Thailand.Seraj Alsaleem from Saudi Arabia, who finished fifth at this weight at the Tokyo Olympic Games after a successful qualifying campaign, has also struggled to make lifts. He has withdrawn after weigh-in twice and after today’s bombout in snatch he is down in 17th place in the rankings, needing to find an improvement of about 20kg in Thailand to qualify. Kang Hyon Gyong (PRK) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportIn the non-Olympic women’s 55kg category, Kang bounced back from a snatch bombout in Qatar by starting with three good lifts and bettering her own world record. Kang made 104-123-227 ahead of Chen on 89-115-204. Nigora Abdullaeva was a bronze medallist for host nation Uzbekistan on 86-106-192.Kang, 24, would have beaten her world record on total, too, but for a jury decision. Her final attempt at 130kg was given a 2-1 verdict by the referees but the jury ruled it a no-lift for a press-out. By Brian

Tashkent, Day 1: Double success for PRK – and it’s now nine world records in 127 days for their women’s team

DPR Korea won both the medal events on the opening day of the Asian Championships in Tashkent. Its women’s team continued a remarkable run of record-breaking victories when Won Hyon Sim claimed a sweep of golds at 45kg, then Pang Un Chol finished ahead of the Vietnamese world champion to win the men’s 55kg.Both athletes had also won at the IWF Grand Prix in Qatar two months ago.Won broke snatch and total world records on her way to victory. Since the first day of competition at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China 127 days ago, PRK athletes have now set nine women’s world records. Won Hyon Sim (PRK) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportUntil this Championships nobody had met the world standards, set in 2018, of 85-108-191 at the minimum weight for women. Won beat those marks in snatch and total as she made 86-106-192. Had she not failed with her second clean and jerk on 106kg, Won might have claimed all three world records.It was a dominant performance by Won, who improved her Qatar Grand Prix total by 11kg. While she made five good lifts, second-placed Siriwimon Pramongkhol from Thailand made only two as she finished 29kg behind on 72-91-163. Hong Zi-yu from Chinese Taipei was third on 72-90-162.In the men’s 55kg, world champion Lai Gia Thanh withdrew with an injury after failing with three of five attempts. The Vietnamese lifter had either won or bombed out in his past 11 competitions but this time he broke the sequence by finishing third. Pang Un Chol (PRK)Lai missed his first two snatch attempts and had to be helped off the platform, clutching his right leg in pain, after he made the third. His 116-134-250 was a long way below his best.Natthawat Chomchuen from Thailand had led at halfway but he failed with his final two attempts and finished on 119-145-264, also far lower than his career-high numbers. Pang made 116-150-266 for victory, 2kg lower than his winning total in Qatar.The youngest competitor here in Tashkent made five good lifts in the women’s 49kg B group, which opened the Championships.Ogulshat Amanova from Turkmenistan won the world youth title aged 13 last March and competed here aged 14 years 66 days. She has had minor injury problems and made 70-82-152, which was 4kg lower than her world title effort. Ogulshat’s big target this year is the IWF World Youth Championships in Peru in May. Ogulshat Amanova (TKM) - Photo credit: Isaac Morillas/awf.sportUzbekistan also has two 14-year-olds in its team. Munisa Odilova made 57-70-127 in the 45kg A Group and Shakhnoza Jabbarova lifts on Tuesday in the women’s 64kg A Group.Yadav Gyaneshwari from India posted a career-best 79-99-178 to lead the B Group. Juliana Klarisa, who won South East Asia Games gold at 55kg less than nine months ago and has cut more than 10 per cent of her body weight to lift at 49kg, was second on 77-98-175. That puts her within 1kg of her team-mate Windy Aisah, who is 16th in the Paris 2024 rankings.The 49kg A Group is on day two of this Paris 2024 qualifying event, which also features the men’s 61kg and the non-Olympic women’s 55kg. By Brian Oliver

Team China and Olympic champions take a break while hundreds try to boost Paris hopes at continental championships

Nine hundred and ninety-nine weightlifters from across the world are entered in their senior continental championships over the next four weeks. From the first lift at the African Championships in Ismailia, Egypt tomorrow until the last at the Pan American Championships in Caracas, Venezuela on the last day of February, more than 500 of those athletes will be aiming to improve their position in the Olympic rankings. The five championships make up the penultimate round in the Paris 2024 qualifying programme which ends with the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand from March 31 to April 11. Karlos Nasar (BUL) With nearly 400 entries, the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria from February 12-20 is by far the biggest of the five. The numbers are boosted by the presence of the United States, whose athletes were given permission by the EWF and IWF to compete as guests in Bulgaria because their government advised them not to travel to Venezuela, with which the US has no diplomatic relations. The Americans cannot win medals but their totals will count in the Paris rankings. The United States will not be at full strength because some athletes have, like the entire China team, decided to focus on preparations for the IWF World Cup. The double Olympic super-heavyweight medallist Sarah Robles will go for one big final push in Thailand as she tries to overtake team-mate Mary Theisen Lappen, while Jourdan Delacruz has planned all along to miss this round. She is very well placed at 49kg. Sarah Robles (USA) Hayley Reichardt, who is only 3kg behind team-mate Delacruz at 49kg, is out of qualifying altogether because of mental burn-out. “I withdrew from the European Championships and the World Cup, so I forfeited my Olympic eligibility. You might be confused… and honestly, I am too,” Reichardt said on social media. She had messages of support from team-mates. “I’m taking a break from the Olympic lifts and doing some different types of workouts and having fun in the gym for the first time in a long time,” Reichardt said. China’s athletes dominate the rankings and can afford to focus on training. They lead the way in all five women’s weight categories, and three of the men’s. In four of the extended lists they have the top two contenders. A statement from the Chinese Weightlifting Association explained the decision, saying: “The Chinese weightlifting team participated in three important international competitions in a row from September to December last year, including the Riyadh World Championships, a compulsory Olympic qualification event, the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the Doha Grand Prix, a qualification event as well. “Our athletes have adjusted their training and competition states multiple times within a short period of time, and thus could not undergo systematic training. Considering that the Chinese team have already completed four out of seven qualifying events, only one more qualification event is required, in accordance with the Paris Olympic Games Qualification System.  “In order to ensure the systematic winter training of our athletes and adjust their rhythm for competition, after careful consideration we have decided to participate in the Thailand World Cup, which is also a compulsory qualification event.” Sara Samir (EGY) Other notable absentees at the continental championships include Olympic champions Hidilyn Diaz from the Philippines and Maude Charron from Canada, as well as the Tokyo silver medallist Mirabai Chanu from India. Athletes from the continental host nations Egypt, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Venezuela and New Zealand all have a chance to win gold and improve their Olympic chances. Among the favourites in Ismailia, where the African Championships run from February 2-10, are the Egyptians Karim Abokahla, Neama Said and Sara Samir. Akbar Djuraev and Ruslan Nurudinov could both win for Uzbekistan, where the Asian Championships take place in Tashkent from February 3-10. Keydomar Vallenilla (VEN) Multiple word record holder Karlos Nasar will be Bulgaria’s biggest star at the European Championships from February 12-20. Keydomar Vallenilla leads a strong Venezuela team at the Pan American Championships from February 23-29. For New Zealand, David Liti will be aiming to win a second continental super-heavyweight title within three months on the final day of the Oceania Championships which run in Auckland from February 21-15.  By Brian

Final entries for the IWF World Cup are due on January 31!

The National Federations that have submitted their preliminary entries for the IWF World Cup, to be held from March 31 - April 11, 2024 in Phuket (THA), have until tomorrow, January 31, to confirm their final entries for the event. Through the IWF e-entry system (https://mf.iwf.sport), all participating delegations are invited at this stage to: SELECT a maximum of 12 athletes (10+2 reserve) per gender (if available), from the registered preliminary entries; REMOVE athletes who will not take part in the competition; CONFIRM the final entries by clicking on the "Confirm Final List" button. After this important step, the verification of final entries will be done on March 17, two weeks before the start of the IWF World Cup. This competition is the last available opportunity to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris (FRA), being one of the two mandatory events on that path, along with the 2023 IWF World Championships, held last September in Riyadh