Bulgarian spoils China's rule in weightlifting

JAKARTA (JP): Petar Petrov, Bulgaria's 20 year old lifter, seized two gold medals after prevailing in the snatch event to become the overall winner in the 64-kilogram category as China stretched its runaway lead in the 20th junior world weightlifting championships here yesterday.

The lanky Bulgarian, who always delivered a roar during action, also managed to set a new world record in snatch of 142.5kgs.

Petrov's total performance amounted to 305kgs which was equal to Chinese Feng Ming's total score.

Since Petrov established new records, he was given the champion's laurel.

Feng, who equaled his old record in clean and jerk at 170kgs, took the gold medal in this event.

The tournament, attended by no more than 100 audience including indifferent little children and a group of Indonesian marines, was particularly tight in the snatch contest.

This is because the old record of 135kgs, which was set up by Feng in 1993, was broken three consecutive times, a process which lead to Petrov's highly impressive new record.

It was Feng himself, who first broke the old record by lifting the 135.5kg weight.

History, however, was moving on the fast lane and the Chinese delegate's joy proved to be short-lived. Feng's new record was quickly shattered by Bulgarian Galabin Boesky who managed to lift 137.5kgs.

Boesky eventually grabbed the silver medal in snatching while Rumanian Marinel Toader, who grabbed 135kgs, came third and was awarded the bronze medal.

China more than made up for its loss in 64kg division as Zhan Xugang produced two world breaking lifts on his way to sweeping three golds in the 70kg class.

Zhan heaved 183kgs in his last attempt to better the world mark of 182.5kg set by South Korean Kim Hak-bon in Melbourne last year. The 20-year-old Chinese lifted 145kgs in snatch to score a new world total lift record of 328kgs which beat Kim's mark by 0.5kg.

The victorious Chinese lifters helped their team leave the pack behind in the medal race with nine golds, two silvers and a bronze. Bulgaria leapfrogged overnight runner-ups Rumania and Hungary with two golds, three silvers and a bronze.

Bronze

On Tuesday night, Erwin Abdullah put Indonesia among the medal winning country with his bronze he won in the 59kg clean and jerk. Erwin lost his grip which lead him to his best record of 163kgs during his training stint early this month, managing only 155kgs.

Filled with confidence after his successful 155kg lift, Erwin stepped on to the platform to heave 160kgs. He fell in his second attempt, but did it in the third.

Erwin, however, could not avoid bursting into tears as a jury team of six considered his lift imperfect due to his shaky legs.

"I should have had chances of taking the gold," disappointed Erwin said. The 19-year-old native of Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi was dubbed the only Indonesian to shine in the annual meet.

China's Xu Wuzhong took the top honors in the event with 157.5kgs which dominated the 59kg division with two golds in clean and jerk and total events. (hdj/amd)