China's Wang sweeps women's 87kg division at weightlifting worlds

Wang Zhouyu of China competes during the women's weightlifting 87kg event at the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships held at Pattaya, Thailand, Sept. 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Keren)

PATTAYA, Thailand, Sept. 26 -- Chinese weightlifter Wang Zhouyu swept the women's 87kg category by winning all the three gold medals at the 2019 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships here on Thursday.

In the competition, Wang won the gold of snatch on 120kg at the second attempt though she failed at trying to lift 125kg at the third attempt. Kim Un Ju of DPR Korea also failed at the last attempt and took the silver with 115kg, while Venezuela's Naryury Reveron took the bronze of snatch on 110kg.

In clean and jerk, Wang took the gold medal again by making a good lift of 158kg at the third attempt. Kim finished second with 154kg. Tamara Arce of Ecuador won the bronze of clean and jerk on 144kg.

Wang, with a sweeping advantage, won the gold medal of total on 278kg. Kim took the silver on 269kg while the bronze went to Arce on 252kg.

Thursd ay's competition also featured the men's 109kg category. In the snatch portion, all the three medalists made all three good lifts and broke the IWF world standard of 196kg. Simon Martirosyan won the gold on 199kg, making the new world record in the division. Andrei Aramnau of Belarus took the silver of snatch on 198kg. China's Yang Zhe won the bronze on 197kg.

During the competition of clean and jerk, Martirosyan continued to lead the competition with a good lift of 230kg at the first attempt. After failing the second attempt of 241kg, he gave up the last attempt as he had already secured the gold. Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan took the silver of clean and jerk on 229kg. The bronze went to Aramnau on 228kg.

Martirosyan finally won the gold of total on 429kg while Aramnau took the silver on 426kg. Yang won the bronze with 420kg.

The 10-day championships, running through September 27, also serve as qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.