China's 20-member weightlifting national team, including Olympic gold medalists and world champions, will depart for the 2022 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in the Colombian capital Bogota on Saturday.

Six Olympic champions Hou Zhihui (49kg), Wang Zhouyu (87kg), Li Wenwen (+87kg), Li Fabin (61kg), Chen Lijun (67kg) and Shi Zhiyong (73kg) will spearhead the Chinese squad, with young teammates who are about to make debuts at the worlds.

Scheduled from December 5-16, the world championships is the first weightlifting qualifying tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympics, where weightlifting events will be cut from 14 at Tokyo 2020 to 10, with weight classes also undergoing significant changes. 

In Paris, the men's competitions will feature 61kg, 73kg, 89kg, 102kg and +102kg. The women's events comprise 49kg, 59kg, 71kg, 81kg and +81kg in Paris. Men's 67kg and 81kg and women's 55kg and 87kg, where Chinese athletes won golds in Tokyo, will not be included in the Paris sports programs. 

"This is the first world championships in the Paris Olympic cycle and the most important one in 2022. Therefore, we have made thorough preparation for it," said coach of the women's team Wang Guoxin. 

He also admitted that the change of weight classes brought about challenges in training and preparation for the worlds. For example, Tokyo women's 87kg gold medalist Wang Zhouyu decided to lose weight to compete in the 81kg class in the new Olympic cycle. 

"The athletes were absent from international competitions and they need a stretch of time to adapt to the new categories in weight control and choice of first attempt," he noted. 

"Our goal at the world championships is to let athletes gradually find their rhythm of competing in major events," Wang continued, adding that he wouldn't put too much pressure on the young lifters but encouraged them to learn through competitions. 

Wang was echoed by his men's team counterpart Yu Jie, who said: "The world championships is a great incentive for athletes. They are fully motivated and trained very hard, especially the young athletes." 

Yu confessed that China was not that competitive in the 102kg and +102kg categories and had to "work extremely hard" on the other three. 

(With input from Xinhua)