| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 16, 2001 |
Feature: Challenge to Chinese Women Lifters Looms Large |
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Challenge to Chinese strongwomen's dominance on the bout looms large despite their avalanche to upset world records at China's ongoing 9th National Games here, warned a senior coach.
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Challenge to Chinese strongwomen's dominance on the bout looms largeChallenge to Chinese strongwomen's dominance on the bout looms large despite their avalanche to upset world records at China's ongoing 9th National Games in Jiangmen, warned a senior coach.
--China is facing "formidable challenges" from other countries in women's lifting. Yang Hanxiong, head coach of the national team who came directly from Antalya, Turkey after attending the world weightlifting championships to this southern Chinese city for the games, said Chinese women lifters ran only second to Russia at Antalya with five golds, while Russia swept six golds of all the categories from 69kg to over 75kg.
--Our only advantage in the sport is we started several years ahead of others.China only dispatched second-string lifters for the competitions in Antalya, since the top ones had to stay back fighting for their representative home teams at the national sports meet. But Yang said the recent world championships signaled that China is facing "formidable challenges" from Russia and other European and Asian countries in women's lifting, especially in heavier-class categories.
--It would be hard for the Chinese girls to repeat their glory three years later. "Our only advantage in the sport is we started several years ahead of others," said Ma Wenguang, an official of the State General Administration of Sports in charge of weightlifting events, in an interview with Xinhua. Now that women's weightlifting has been entered as a competitive event at the Olympic Games, he said the sport is witnessing a rapid growth in other countries, particularly in traditional weightlifting powers like Russia, Romania, Hungary and Poland.
In the event's Olympic debut in Sydney last year with seven golds on offer, Chinese girls pocketed all the four golds for the categories in which they contended. This momentum, based on solid groundwork, said Yang, might be able to sustain for another year or two, but it would be hard for the Chinese girls to repeat their glory three years later in the Athens Olympics.
"Countries like Russia, Romania, Hungary and Poland have been known as men's lifting powerhouses and they claim rich experiences in training strongmen," Yang observed. "It is not difficult for them to transfer those experiences to training women."
Ma Wenguang shared Yang's view, although he was impressed by the performance of women lifters from across the country in the weightlifting competitions at the games.
--World records in six of the seven categories were surpassed in 9th National GamesDuring the four-day event that ended in Jiangmen Thursday afternoon, the world records in six of the seven categories were surpassed time and again. Among the four Sydney Olympic gold medalists contending in the event, two failed to enter the top three and only one managed to grab a gold.
While acknowledging the power and prowess the women lifters displayed at the current national sports meet, Ma also attributed the impressive results to the hospitable reception to the athletes.
"They have all been in very good form due to the good accommodations provided to them by the host Jiangmen organizers, and they have been guaranteed for good rest here," he said. But when they compete in a foreign land, he said, they may not enjoy such favorable treatment.
--European strongs may soon overtake usMa sensed the threat to China in the fact that women's weightlifting "has made rapid progress in Europe in a very short period." Given such momentum, he said, "they may soon overtake us."
That is why Ma has kept a low key despite wave upon wave of world record shattering on the weightlifting bout at the National Games. "We cannot relax our efforts," he warned. And he urged Chinese coaches to adopt a more scientific method in training, especially in the heavier-class categories.
More World Records The four-day women's strength-bouting event at China's Ninth National Games closed Thursday in Jiangmen with more world records upset.
Tang Gonghong from East China's Shandong Province bettered all three world records in the over-75kg category women's weightlifting contests on the final day of the event started Monday.
Tang, world champion in Finland in 1998, scored a total of 312.5kg after snatching 137.5kg and jerking up 175kg.
The world records, made by China's Ding Meiyuan at the Sydney Olympic Games last year, are respectively 300.0kg, 135.0kg and 165.0kg.
This was the sixth and last of the seven categories in the four-day event that witnessed shattering of the world records. Only the 53kg category went off with its world records untouched.
Olympic gold medalist Ding Meiyuan from Liaoning Province was subdued to the second place with a total of 300.0kg at the 15-athlete competitions held in Jiangmen, a small town 101 kilometers from host Guangdong's capital city of Guangzhou.
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