Three RI lifters get berths for Olympic Games

JAKARTA (Agencies): Indonesia earned three tickets to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney by winning one gold and four silver medals to finishing eighth at the World Weightlifting Championships in Athens.

After arriving on Saturday back in Jakarta, Coach Imron Rosadi said at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport that according to the International Weightlifting Federation rules, competitors ranked seventh to ninth in the world at the championships earned three tickets to the Olympics.

Imron said the championships, which attracted the participation of 70 countries, were tougher than last year's event because this year's meet also served as a qualifying round for the Olympics.

"In each class, our lifters struggled harder than their 35 rivals," he told Antara.

Indonesia was represented by women's lifters Sri Indriyani and Lisa Rumbewas in the women's 48 kilogram division, Winarni and Supeni in the women's 53 kg class and men's lifter Erwin Abdullah in the men's 63 kg division.

Indriyani lifted a total of 185 kgs to win the silver medal, but she grabbed the gold in the snatch event with 82.5 kgs. Indriyani's lift of 102.5 kg in the clean-and-jerk did not reflect her capacity.

Winarni brought home three silvers. She was successful in the snatch event with a total lift of 90 kgs, the clean-and-jerk with a total lift of 112.5 kgs and the overall category with a total lift of 202.5 kgs.

Lisa finished seventh, while Supeni finished in the top six.

The Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association (PABBSI) secretary-general, Djoko Pramono, said the organization would try to obtain more spots at the Olympics. He said weightlifters would attend another Olympics qualification event, the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Japan to be held in May 2000.

Women's weightlifting will be featured for the first time in the 2000 quadrennial event. In 1996, Indonesia sent men's weightlifter Herry Setiawan to compete in the 51 kg class, but he returned home empty-handed.

In Athens, AP reported that Iran's Shahin Nasirinia hoisted 215kgs in the clean-and-jerk to win on Friday in the men's 85 kg category.

Nasirinia won two gold medals, reaching a winning total of 390 kgs. He overtook Pyrros Dimas of Greece, who earlier broke the world record in the snatch event by lifting 180.5 kgs and winning a gold.

Greeted by roars of applause at Piraeus' Peace and Friendship Stadium, Dimas held the weight over his head after his lift was approved and nodded his acknowledgment to the capacity home crowd for the standing ovation.

"I'm very happy ... it would have been nice to have been better prepared, but the Sydney Olympics are coming up," said Dimas, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, who missed competitions for a year due to a shoulder injury.

Greece's Christos Spirou took the silver medal in the clean- and-jerk, while Dimas also won the silver medal in the total and the bronze medal in the clean-and-jerk. Marc Huster of Germany won the bronze medal in both the total and the snatch categories.

In the women's competition, Xu Jiao of China won two gold medals and one silver medal, while South Korea's Kim Soon-hee won one gold and two silver medals in the 75 kg category.

Xu took the gold in the total with a lift of 112.5 kgs in the snatch and 135 kgs in the clean-and-jerk. Her 247.5 kg total, which was five kilos better than Kim, is a junior world record.

In the snatch category, Xu also topped Kim by five kilos. But the South Korean received her gold medal in the clean-and-jerk, matching Xu's lift of 135 kgs but winning on body weight. (yan)