China's Lan sets junior world record in weightlifting
JAKARTA (JP): China's Lan Shizhang stunned the 20th junior world weightlifting championships yesterday as he established a new world record and swept three golds to lift his team atop of the medal standings on the opening day.
Lan, who competed in the newly introduced 54-kilogram division, lifted 153 kgs in clean and jerk to beat the world standard of 152.5 kgs. The 20-year-old Chinese failed to establish new marks in the snatch and total events, but did enough to get him another two gold medals.
The results gave the Chinese team an early lead in the medal tally with three golds. Bulgaria was second with three silvers, ahead of France which earned three bronzes.
Lan's total lift of 270.5 kgs was 2.5 kgs away from the world standard of 272 kg set by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). He scored 117.5 kgs in snatch, five kgs lighter than the world mark.
The Chinese lifter put on a commendable one-man-show on his way to the world record. While all his rivals gave up at 135 kgs, Lan perfectly lifted 140 kgs in his first attempt. The student of the Beijing physical education college also looked untroubled with the 150-kg weight.
Filled with confidence, he successfully pulled the 153-kg barbell fully to his arm's length overhead in his last attempt.
"It was a surprising moment," Chinese coach Qian Guangjun told reporters through his translator. Qian said Lan, whose previous best total record was only 265 kgs, will undergo even stricter training for the 1996 Olympics.
Preparation
Qian said Lan, who started his career four years ago, had specially prepared himself for the championships over the past 12 months.
Bulgarian Stefan Georgiev finished second in all three events featured in the division, and France's Eric Bonnel took all bronzes.
Georgiev heaved 115 kgs in snatch and 135 kgs in clean and jerk, earning him a total lift of 250 kgs. Bonnel equaled Georgiev in clean and jerk, but snatched five kgs lower than his Bulgarian rival for a total lift of 245 kgs.
Indonesian lifters came a cropper as neither Bahagia nor Perry Purnomo managed to beat the IWF standards. Bahagia failed to lift 95 kgs in his three attempts in snatch.
Bahagia fell again in his all clean and jerk lifts. He stretched but could not remove the 120-kg barbell from the platform. Perry managed a successful second lift with 120 kgs but made no heavier attempt.
A total of 169 lifters from 46 countries joined in the six-day event, the first world meet hosted by Indonesia, with 30 gold medals up for grabs. The championships staged at the Senayan tennis indoor stadium will feature the 64-kg and 70-kg competitions today. (amd)