IWF Junior World Championships 2018 Roundup
232 young men and women from a total of 48 countries gathered in the capital of Uzbekistan for the 2018 IWF Junior World Championships last week. [caption id="attachment_23224" align="alignright" width="351"] Closing Ceremony[/caption] An impressive range of talent was on display in Tashkent, with some young stars making clear statements in showing they could challenge for Senior titles in the very near future. We thank the event organisers, led by IWF Executive Board Member Shakhrillo Makhmudov, for a fantastic edition of the competition. Here is a roundup of the results and key moments from the Championships. If you missed any of the action, you can re-watch each category in full here on our YouTube channel. Women’s 48kg The lighter categories are usually dominated by the Southeast Asian lifters, and the 2018 Junior World Championships was no exception. The competition favourites were 2017 silver medallist NANTHAWONG Chiraphan from Thailand and bronze medallist OLIVEIRA MADEIRA Luana from Brazil. Both improved on their 2017 position, leaving the Thai lifter to collect her Junior World Championship gold with a 181kg Total and the first of the Championships in Tashkent. Men’s 56kg A similar story in the Men’s 56kg, as the Southeast Asian lifters put on a show. The podium was crowded with Vietnamese lifters, as LAI Gia Thanh and NGO Son Dinh won gold and bronze respectively. It was a comfortable victory in the end for LAI, who was put under little pressure from Colombia’s second-placed GARCIA PEREZ Jairo Luis. However, the fight for bronze was fierce, as NGO was pushed all the way by Korea’s LIM Kanghun who came back with a strong clean and jerk to match NGO’s Total. Women’s 53kg There was a close fight in the Women’s 53kg between Thailand’s KHAMBAO Surodchana, USA’s DELACRUZ Jourdan Elizabeth and Colombia’s SINISTERRA TORRES Yenny. There was only 3kg separating third from first going into the clean and jerk, but in the end the Thai lifter proved too strong, securing gold with her second attempt of 110kg. Men’s 62kg [caption id="attachment_23065" align="alignright" width="250"] ERGASHEV Adkhamjon[/caption] Pure domination in the Men’s 62kg. In front of a home crowd, Uzbekistan’s ERGASHEV Adkhamjon snatched 14kg above his closest rival, and another 13kg in the clean and jerk, taking his Total to a massive 295kg. German MAU Jon Luke put on an impressive display in the clean and jerk, redeeming his fifth-place finish in the snatch, to finish second overall. Ultimately, there was no competition for the Uzbek lifter, who was Youth World Champion in 2016 with 280kg and fourth at the 2017 World Championships with 292kg. Women’s 58kg What more can we say about KOHA Rebeka? The young Latvian put on a clinic at the Championships, taking home three gold medals and finishing a whopping 21kg above second place. Canadian DARSIGNY Tali impressed after ranking 4th in the snatch and in the clean and jerk. She stood on the podium to be handed the bronze medal for her total of 197kg. Men’s 69kg A three-peat was on the cards for USA’s CJ Cummings, who did not disappoint with his performance in Tashkent. The reigning Junior World Champion took home 3 gold medals. A fired-up DUMITRASCU Paul took silver. The Romanian came from fifth place in the snatch to lift a massive 175kg in the clean and jerk, just 1kg behind Cummings. Women’s 63kg [caption id="attachment_23101" align="alignleft" width="249"] Fayzullaeva[/caption] More success for Uzbekistan and a lifter who is one to watch for the future. After a tense snatch session, which resulted in three lifters tied on 94kg, 16-year old FAYZULLAEVA Kumushkhon came out and dominated the clean and jerk, lifting 120kg and 7kg ahead of Egypt’s AHMED Esraa Elsayed Rashed Elsayed. Men’s 77kg Just like his compatriot KOHA Rebeka, Latvian SUHAREVS Ritvars took home three golds with an impressive display of lifting. Suharevs totalled 10kg above Iran’s SOLTANI Hossein and 12kg ahead of HARUTYUNYAN Rafik, who took second in the clean and jerk. Women’s 69kg More domination in the next Women’s categories, as AHMED Sara Samir Elsayed Mohamed eased to victory in the 69kg. The Olympic Games bronze medallist fulfilled all expectations, as she totalled an impressive 238kg, improving on her 2015 Championship-winning total of 232kg. Men’s 85kg [caption id="attachment_23118" align="alignright" width="251"] Davitadze[/caption] The Men’s 85kg provided the first Georgian victory of the Championships. DAVITADZE Revaz waited until all athletes had completed their snatch to come out and set the tone with a 160kg lift. In the clean and jerk, USA’s MAURUS Harrison James came from the middle of the pack for three good lifts, one taking gold at an impressive 198kg, giving him bronze overall and 1kg behind Egypt’s ALI Ahmed Sayed Ashour. Women’s 75kg The Women’s 75kg provided the biggest victory of the Championships. Ecuador’s DAJOMES BARRERA Neisi Patricia totalled a massive 35kg above second place, and was the only woman to snatch double figures with 115kg. USA’s ALWINE Meredith Leigh secured her second place spot with a 121kg clean and jerk, 5kg above Uzbekistan’s JABBOROVA Tursunoy who took bronze in the Total. Men’s 94kg The Men’s 94kg now had two athletes who had moved up from 85kg. Qatar’s ELBAKH Fares Ibrahim and Colombia’s RIVAS MOSQUERA Jhonatan battled to prove who had made the right decision. RIVAS won a tense snatch competition by 1kg. But, ELBAKH proved way too strong in the clean and jerk, lifting a massive 215kg and 12kg ahead of RIVAS to take gold. [caption id="attachment_23131" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Men's 94kg podium[/caption] Women’s 90kg A nail-bitingly close competition unravelled in the Women’s 90kg, as Uzbek lifter DAVRONOVA Dolera took home the Total gold by 1kg. After ranking fifth in the snatch, DAVRONOVA came out to win the clean and jerk by 3kg. Two solid all-round performances were put in by USA’s RIOTTO Juliana Rose and Austria’s FISCHER Sarah, who both finished on 224kg. RIOTTO took home the silver medal while FISHER was awarded the Bronze. Men’s 105kg Another bag full of golds for Georgia, as CHKHEIDZE Irakli comfortably won all three in the Men’s 105kg. CHKHEIDZE ended with a 13kg advantage over Uzbek and 2018 Asian Junior Champion DJURAEV Akbar, and 22kg over bronze medallist ABDELAZIZ Mohamed Abdelrahman Mohamed, who registered 360kg in his first IWF event. Women’s +90kg The last Women’s event in Tashkent saw another clean sweep of the gold medals, as no one was to match Republic of Korea’s 2018 Junior Asian Champion LEE Seon Mi. LEE came out to three good lifts in both the snatch and clean and jerk, totalling 18kg ahead of second place AYOVI CABEZAS Lisseth Betzaida and finishing with 274kg. Third place went to Nauru lifter AMOE-TARRANT Charisma Precious registering her first result. Men’s +105kg Iran are good at producing heavyweights. DAVOUDI Ali added weight to this claim, as he dominated the Men’s +105kg. The 19-year old finished the snatch a massive 15kg ahead of Armenia’s LALAYAN Varazdat and then eased to a total victory in the clean and jerk with a 227kg lift. However, it was not a clean sweep of golds for DAVOUDI, as Pakistan’s BUTT Muhammad Nooh Dastgir came to spoil the party in the clean and jerk, lifting 228kg for gold. [caption id="attachment_23191" align="alignright" width="235"] Iran's Ali Davoudi[/caption] [caption id="attachment_23183" align="alignleft" width="246"] South Korea's Lee[/caption] Special Awards... According to the Team Classification, the first 6 best-performing Men and Women Teams received their trophies during the Closing Ceremony. Women's Team Classification: United States of America Thailand Uzbekistan Turkey Ecuador Chinese Taipei Men's Team Classification: Iran Uzbekistan Turkey United States of America Poland Colombia [caption id="attachment_23219" align="alignright" width="250"] Adkhamjon Ergashev and Neisi Dajomes[/caption] The IWF Media Trophy of Best Lifter amongst the women was awarded to DAJOMES BARRERA Neisi Patricia of Colombia, for her commanding performance in the 75kg making her Junior World Champion for the third year running. For the men, the winner was the home nation's talented ERGASHEV Adkhamjon, who lifted 17kg more than his nearest rival in the Men's 62kg. See the full list of results here. — Follow IWF: Facebook Instagram Twitter
