Russia wins world junior powerlifting meet

JAKARTA (JP): Russian musclewomen swept seven gold medals in the final day of the world junior powerlifting meet at Nusa Dua, Bali on Sunday to help their team take the overall championship title.

The 20-strong team racked up a total of 26 golds, 14 silvers and 16 bronzes, more than half of them won by its women's lifters, to stave off a fierce challenge by host Indonesia which had to be satisfied with 21 golds, 14 silvers and 11 bronzes for second place.

The June 22-26 meet saw 18 world junior records out of the 19 events featured here shattered. Women's lifters highlighted the record breaking party, establishing 13 of the new world marks.

Indonesia had taken over the lead on the penultimate day of the 25-nation competition with two golds, thanks to national musclemen on their way to nine golds.

The country's best bet in the men's 75-kilogram class Sahroni and his 60-kilogram partner Sutrisno stole the spotlight on Saturday by snatching three golds to put Indonesia briefly atop the medal race.

Finishing second overall, after all, more than gave the Indonesian Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association (PABBSI) pride as it had set earlier a modest target of only five golds.

Indonesia fielded nine men's lifters and nine musclewomen in the annual meet which saw 192 participants battling for 76 golds, 76 silvers and 76 bronzes.

Norway finished a distant third with 12 golds, six silvers and eight bronzes, followed by Chinese Taipei which a collection of eight golds, 10 silvers and 10 bronzes.

Thirteen of the 25 contingents, including France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland and New Zealand, failed to win a single medal. (amd)

Medals tally

G S B 1. Russia 26 14 16 2. Indonesia 21 14 11 3. Norway 12 6 8 4. Chinese Taipei 8 10 10 5. U.S.A 7 11 5 6. Great Britain 6 1 3 7. Japan 5 4 2 8. Germany 5 3 2 9. Slovakia 2 1 1 10. Finland 2 0 3 11. Austria 1 7 4 12. Kazakhstan 1 2 2