Chinese superteam departs for weightlifting worlds

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Chinese superteam departs for weightlifting worlds

A 15-member Chinese weightlifting squad, packed with world and Olympic champions, left Beijing on Wednesday for the world championships in Vancouver.

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A 15-member Chinese weightlifting squad, packed with world and Olympic champions, left Beijing on Wednesday for the world championships in Vancouver.

China dispatched a dream team, consisting of eight men and seven women top lifters of the country, to compete in the tournament, which is to decide the berths for the Athens Olympic Games next year.

Double Olympic champion Zhan Xugang and Sydney Games gold medallist Ding Meiyuan spearhead the men's and women's lineups respectively. While Sydney 56kg bronze medallist Zhang Xiangxiangmissed the men's event because of injury, almost all women membersare world or Olympic champions.

"Although we're to face certain challenge from the rest of the world," women's coach Ma Wenhui said. "we still have the advantagein all the categories we participate in."

Among the full-strength women's team, Liu Xia just set a new world record for the 63kg category in September's Asian Championships, and Liu Chunhong is the current world record holderfor 69kg.

Chinese strongwomen, with overwhelming power in the world, still hold 20 world records out of a total of 21 in seven women's categories, according to Ma.

Besides veteran Zhan, men's lineup also features Zhang Guozheng,who created a new world mark of 197.5kg in jerk in the men's 69kg in September.

The Vancouver championships is slated for November 14-24. Both in men's and women's events, the top six teams will book the tickets for Athens. Each of the six men's teams is able to dispatch six lifters at the most to the 2004 Games, but the women's rule stipulates that a country or region can field no more than four competitors.

"We should have no trouble making it into the 2004 games," men's team leader Pang Gaoxing said.

Squad

Men: Lu Jinbi and Wu Meijin (56kg), Le Maosheng and Shi Zhiyong(69kg), Zhang Guozheng (69kg), Li Hongli and Zhan Xugang (77kg), Yuan Aijun (85kg).

Women: Wang Mingjuan (48kg), Sun Caiyan (58kg), Liu Xia and Xiong Meiying (63kg), Liu Chunhong (69kg), Shang Shichun (75kg), Ding Meiyuan (75+kg).

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