The award ceremony of the men's 61kg clean and jerk at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jinju, South Korea, May 6, 2023. /Chinese national weightlifting team
Tokyo Olympic champion Li Fabin pocketed three gold medals at the ongoing Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jinju, South Korea on Saturday.
Li lifted 143kg in the snatch of the men's 61kg category, defeating compatriot Chen Lijun who lifted 142kg in his final snatch after failing with the same weight on his second attempt.
Ricko Saputra of Indonesia took bronze in the snatch with a lift of 133kg.
Li lifted 171kg in his second clean and jerk to win gold, before failing with 174kg on his final attempt.
Chen secured the clean and jerk silver with a lift of 168kg after failing with 173kg in his second and third attempts, while the bronze went to Theerapong Silachai of Thailand, lifting 167kg.
Li took another gold in the total with 314kg, and Chen followed his teammate with 310kg.
Prior to Li, Jiang Huihua had triumphed in the women's 49kg category on the first day of the championships.
China's Chen Lijun competes at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jinju, South Korea, May 6, 2023. /Chinese national weightlifting team
The championship, which runs from May 3 to 13, is one of the qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be cut from 14 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, are no longer included in the Paris sports programs.
(With input from Xinhua)