Phuket, Day 7: Photo Gallery
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Phuket, Day 7: World records help Nasar and Lopez to dominate while challengers drop away
The European and Pan American 89kg champions Karlos Nasar and Yeison Lopez were in world record form as they finished well clear of Asia’s contenders on another day of excitement at the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand. Between them Nasar, from Bulgaria, and Colombian Lopez made six senior record attempts, two of which were successful. Nasar, the world’s top teenage weightlifter, also claimed two junior world records. At the end of a messy session in which only four of the 11 athletes made a total, Nasar had joined Li Dayin from China at the top of the Olympic rankings on 396kg. Lopez, second on the night and third in the rankings, improved his best total to 392kg. Karlos Nasar (BUL) Li made only two good lifts, finishing 13kg down on his best total in third place here, ahead of the Italian Nino Pizzolato. These four were joined in the Paris top 10 by five who were already there before today – Keydomar Vallenilla from Venezuela, Mir Mostafa from Iran, Karim Abokahla from Egypt, Marin Robu from Moldova and Andranik Karapetyan from Armenia. Tenth place changed hands. Petr Asayonak, the Individual Neutral Athlete from Belarus, dropped to 11th after Yu Dongju from Korea made a big move from the B Group. Asayonak might still make it to Paris if China opts not to contest this category. China has four athletes ranked high enough but nations can take a maximum of three per gender to the Olympic Games. Three of the first six athletes on to the platform bombed out in snatch and a fourth, world champion Mir Mostafa, declined his second two attempts after making 160kg. They were Asayonak, Boady Santavy from Canada, who has had knee problems, and Nathan Damron from the United States. Yeison Lopez Lopez (COL) The real excitement started in the last few minutes of the snatch contest. Lopez went for a world record on 181kg and failed. Nasar made the same weight to set junior and senior world records, improving his career best by 5kg. His senior record lasted for one minute before Lopez came out to make 182kg, earning huge cheers from a noisy and appreciative audience. In clean and jerk Nasar made 215kg for a junior world record on total, then went close but failed twice at 224kg, which would have given him senior records in clean and jerk and total. Lopez tried and failed once. “I trained specifically to improve my snatch for this. That was my goal and it went well,” said Lopez. “Now I will return to Colombia, then I’ll go to Madrid and prepare for the Olympics in Europe." The last man to bomb out, after Nasar and Lopez had finished, was China’s second contender Tian Tao. He was faced with the impossible task of making 226kg to overtake Li. Tian Tao announced his retirement from international competition afterwards, although he will continue at national level. Nasar finished 181-215-396, Lopez 182-210-392 and Li 172-210-382. Yu’s move from 17th place to 10th was the best effort by a B Group lifter in the first week of the World Cup, which ends on April 11. He qualified for his third Olympic Games. His eight rivals made a total of five snatches and three clean and jerks between them. Only three made a total. Yu had two attempts at a career-best 209kg. He missed the first, then sat on the steps of the platform for a minute and a half to compose himself. He calmly went out and made his final attempt, finishing 166-209-375. “That was unbelievable. I’m so, so happy,” he said. Ri Chong Song (PRK) In the earlier 81kg Ri Chong Song from DPR Korea had two more attempts at taking Rahmat Erwin’s clean and jerk world record. Just as he had done at the Asian Championships in February, Ri failed both times on 210kg. Ri, PRK’s seventh winner here, made 166-200-366 ahead of Maksad Meredov from Turkmenistan on 146-182-328 and Samuel Guertin from Canada on 140-175-315. The two oldest competitors at the World Cup, both from South Africa, teamed up for the second successive day. Chantelle Burger, 41, lifted at 64kg on Friday with Andre Gadney, who will be 44 next month, as her coach. Andre Gadney (RSA) Today Burger was coach when Gadney finished four places and 115kg behind Ri. Gadney said he enjoyed himself even though he knew his numbers would be uncompetitive here. “What a fantastic competition. It’s inspiring for the young lifters I coach when they see I’m at an event like this. Some of them are making good numbers and I want to be coaching them at big competitions. It’s for the future.” It was a big day for Jose Garcia, the only international weightlifter from Timor Leste. He desperately needed to make a total to support his application for a Universality place in Paris. Six of these will be awarded to weightlifters by the International Olympic Committee. He finished last but Garcia did what he needed to do by making a 205kg total. Australia is all but certain to claim another place in Paris after Jacqueline Nichele finished ahead of her team-mate Sarah Cochrane and Maximina Uepa from Nauru in the early sessions of the women’s 71kg. That should give 23-year-old Nichele the continental slot because all other continents have athletes in the top 10, a situation that is highly unlikely to change in Sunday’s A and B Groups. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
Phuket, Day 6: Photo Gallery
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Phuket, Day 6: Sixth gold for PRK, and Australian Bruce strikes late to beat team-mate in race for Paris
DPR Korea had its sixth winner in six days at the IWF World Cup in Phuket when Rim Un Sim beat her team-mate Ri Suk in the women’s 64kg. That means their remarkable tally since PRK returned to international weightlifting seven months ago is 32 gold medals on total and 27 world records. This time, despite two attempts by Ri and one by Rim, there were no world records. The one they both went for was Ri’s clean and jerk of 146kg. Rim Un Sim (PRK) - Photo by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia Ri failed twice at 147kg and finished 108-140-248. That was the lowest of her three totals since she returned to the platform after a four-year absence in December, and the first time she had been beaten. The Asian Games champion Rim missed once at 147kg, making 114-144-258. Svitlana Samuliak from Ukraine was third on 101-120-221. Tenishia Thornton, the 18-year-old from Malta, made all six lifts for career-best numbers across the board on 90-111-201 in fifth place. The women's 64kg podium - Photo by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia Although there was no Olympic category A Group there was more drama in qualifying when Kyle Bruce won a head-to-head battle with fellow Australian Oliver Saxton on his final lift. Barring an extraordinary series of results in today’s 89kg A Group, a trip to Paris is Bruce’s prize. Continental qualifying places go to the highest ranked athlete from any continental federation not represented in the top 10 of each weight category. Asia, Europe, Pan America and Africa all have athletes in the top six at 89kg. Saxton, who knew nothing about Olympic qualifying until less than a year ago, was on course for Paris after making career bests across the board for 150-185-335 in the D Group. That set the target at 336kg for Bruce in the C Group. Oliver Saxton (AUS) with his parents and girlfriend - Photo by Brian Oliver About two hours later Bruce missed his first two attempts to make the 187kg clean and jerk he needed. He did it with the third, as Saxton, his parents and girlfriend all watched in the audience. The only threat to Bruce is if Karim Abokahla from Egypt, sixth in the rankings, is knocked out of the top 10 on Saturday night and Africa takes the continental place. Even in a competition as extraordinary as the World Cup, that is highly unlikely. Abokahla is confident enough to chase medals at 96kg rather than lift at 89kg. Saxton, 20, whose parents were both international lifters for Britain and Australia, said, “Less than a year ago I was maybe thinking about buying a ticket to go watch in Paris, but as for competing, I didn’t even know anything about qualifying.” Paul Coffa, the Oceania Federation general secretary who coaches Australia’s top lifter Eileen Cikamatana, sat down at dinner at a training camp and told Saxton he could join in. Saxton ditched plans to go to the World Juniors in Mexico, and lifted at five qualifiers in seven months starting with the World Championships in Saudi Arabia last September. Kyle Bruce (AUS) with his coaches - Photo by Brian Oliver Bruce said, “Congratulations to Oliver. He pushed me extremely hard. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake until he came along and shaped up. That takes a lot of resilience in someone so young. He has a great career ahead in the sport. “It’s good for us to be pushing each other and it’s good for Australian weightlifting. He got a new best competition total and so did I. It wasn’t a really big weight for me, 187, but I rushed the first two before calming down to make the last one. “I’m number one in Oceania and I’m confident of being in Paris but it’s not over yet. I feel like the top ten’s pretty much done, certainly the top six. I’ll come tomorrow night to watch and enjoy it.” Bruce was especially happy to have his coach Ali Azari with him in Phuket. “He’s coached me since I was 16. He took me under his wing after my father passed away and I had nothing. He’s like a father to me now and I’m so happy he’s here to see – hopefully - my qualification for the Olympics.” By Brian Oliver
Phuket, Day 5: Photo Gallery
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Phuket, Day 5: Gold medal favourite Rahmat Erwin knocked out of Paris Olympics by record-breaking team-mate Rizki Juniansyah
Rahmat Erwin, one of the strongest favourites for Olympic gold, has been knocked out of Paris 2024 by his Indonesian team-mate Rizki Juniansyah in one of the biggest upsets in weightlifting history. It happened on another day of drama in the 73kg category at the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand, the final qualifying competition for the Paris Games in which there have now been 14 world records in five days. “I can’t believe it, I don’t know what to think,” said Juniansyah afterwards. “I had appendix surgery about six months ago and I didn’t start training properly until January the first. “I can’t take it all in. It’s crazy. I’m so proud.” Rizki Juniansyah (INA) Erwin had led the rankings since December 5, 2022 when he won at the World Championships in Bogota, Colombia. He has set multiple world records at two different weights since then, and only two months ago he said, “It has to be gold,” when asked about his prospects in Paris. Erwin appeared to be under no threat of being overtaken by anyone from another country, including Shi Zhiyong from China, who had his best day since winning Olympic gold for a second time in Tokyo nearly three years ago. But because nations are limited to one athlete per weight category, Erwin had to protect his lead over team-mate Juniansyah. He failed. Juniansyah broke the world record on total when he made 201kg with his fifth attempt. He missed at 203kg but had gone ahead of Erwin by making 164-201-365, a 12kg improvement on his best effort at the Asian Championships in Uzbekistan in February. Rahmat Erwin (INA) Erwin, who had finished 10kg ahead of him there, had two attempts left to make 206kg. He was close with the first one, but not the final attempt, which he made after a break of only 35 seconds when he could have taken two minutes. Erwin, who congratulated Juniansyah, was distraught afterwards. His father Erwin Abdullah, who is also his coach, tried to console him before the medal presentations. Juniansyah said he had never made 206kg in training. “I’ve done 202,” he said. “I always thought I had a chance when I performed well at the Asian Championships. Yes, I was 10kg behind Rahmat and he is amazing, but I always believed. I don’t really know how I did it.” Erwin, who was third in snatch, finished on 160-195-355. He had never previously missed two clean and jerks during qualifying. Shi did well after a lower back injury caused him long-term problems. On his return from an 862-day absence at the Qatar Grand Prix in December he totalled 340kg. Here he led in snatch, and despite missing his last two attempts he improved that by 16kg on 165-191-356, leaving him 9kg behind Juniansyah in the rankings. Shi Zhiyong (CHN) There were other big improvers, including the Tokyo silver medallist Julio Mayora from Venezuela who moved up from 12th place to qualify on 151-188-339. That knocked David Sanchez from Spain – unable to lift here because of injury – out of the top 10. Apart from Erwin and Sanchez, everybody else who started in the top 10 stayed there even if the order changed: Shi, Masanori Miyamoto from Japan, Weeraphon Wichuma from Thailand, Bozhidar Andreev from Bulgaria, Bak Joohyo from Korea, Ritvars Suharevs from Latvia, Furkan Ozbek from Turkey and Luis Javier Mosquera from Colombia, who was a Tokyo silver medallist at 67kg. Karem Ben Hnia from Tunisia claimed the continental slot. Bektimar Reyimov from Turkmenistan started in 21st place and came close to making the top 10. He improved his best total by 10kg but failed with his last two attempts. There was a sea of red lights in the B Group, where 10 athletes managed only four good clean and jerks between them. Six bombed out as they chased a place in the top 10, trying to lift far more than they had ever done before. Two of them nearly made it. Caden Cahoy from the United States twice went close to his target of 193kg in clean and jerk. Cahoy, at 20 still a junior, had never lifted more than 180kg in a competition. He was too upset to talk afterwards but his father and coach Chad Cahoy said, “What a great effort. Caden showed the maturity of a professional athlete that you don’t usually get at that age. He’d never cleaned anything like that before, even in training. He got his adrenalin flowing after he so nearly jerked the first one at 187. I’m proud of him.” The Albanian Briken Calja was on course for a fourth Olympic Games after making his first four attempts – his best effort since finishing second to Erwin at the 2021 World Championships. But Calja, 34, who was fourth at this weight in Tokyo, failed with his last two attempts. He managed only four good clean and jerks in six qualifying competitions. Ri Won Ju (PRK) DPR Korea had its fifth winner of the week when Ri Won Ju broke a world record – the eighth for his team in Phuket - in the non-Olympic 67kg category. It was his third straight victory after successes at the Qatar Grand Prix and the Asian Championships. Another PRK lifter, Pak Jong Ju, had set the clean and jerk world record in 2019. Ri beat it on his final attempt and improved his best total by 12kg in making 144-189-333. He was in tears when his national anthem was played after the medal presentations. Sergio Massidda from Italy – a medal contender at 61kg in Paris - had led by 1kg at halfway. He was also in career-best form, improving his snatch by 4kg, clean and jerk by 7kg and total by 14kg. “When I go back down (to 61kg) I might lose four to six of those 14 kilos but I’ll keep the rest,” he said, looking ahead to Paris. He finished 145-172-317. Third place went to Ishimbek Muratbek Uulu from Kyrgyzstan on 122-172-294. By Brian Oliver Photos by Giorgio
