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Olympic champion Lu Yong met no challenges to win the gold medal in the men’s weightlifting 85kg category at the Chinese National Games.
Lu, the Beijing Olympic champion, lowered the weight of first attempts in the snatch by eight kilos and jerk by 12 kilos as he was confident to snatch the gold.

Lu lifted a total of 376 kg — 173 in snatching and 203 in jerk — which were 16 kilos more than the silver medalist Song Jiawen of Guangdong.

“I love Jinan. I won my first gold medal in the National Championships in 2004 here, and today I won again. Jinan is my lucky place,” Lu said.

“The result is not good enough though. I wanted to secure the gold, so I gave up the heavier weight,” he added.

“Lu is quite clever. He saved his energy and won the gold,” president of the Chinese Weightlifting Association, Ma Wenguang, said.

The 23-year-old Lu made a successful debut in the Beijing Olympics last year, beating veteran Andrei Rybakou of Belarus by body weight advantage with 394kg, 18 kilos more than his result in Jinan.

The 27-year-old runner-up, Song, expressed love to his wife in front of a camera. “I love you! I hope this silver medal may cheer you up,” he said.

Kong Xu from Beijing collected the bronze with 356kg.