Weightlifters bring home four Asian championship bronzes

Former world champion Trinh Van Vinh secured two golds in the men's 61kg category at the Yunusabad sports complex.

Vinh and Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan were two Vietnamese competitors in this category which also featured Ricko Saputra of Indonesia, Pak Myong Jin of North Korea, Ergashev Edkhamjon of Uzbekistan, Mirzayev Seyitjan of Turkmenistan and Lee Hyeseong of South Korea.

While Tuan showed his poor performance, Vinh was a strong candidate testing his technique against powerful Pak, Saputra and Lee.

In the first act of snatch, Vinh's lift of 129kg did not help him enter the top three.

Pak who made 134kg won gold. Lee came second with 131kg and Saputra was third with 130kg.

The Vietnamese did better job in the second act of clean and jerk. He clinched bronze with a result of 161kg after three attempts.

Pak with 172kg and Saputra with 161kg maintained top two, respectively.

In the total, Pak took his third gold as he had the best combined weight of 306kg. Saputra took silver with 291 and Vinh bagged his second bronze on 290kg.

Vinh's bronzes were his first international achievement since he returned to competition after an end of a four-year ban because of doping violation.

The medals also helped him strengthen his Paris Olympic qualification ranking.

Vinh is currently No 9 and if he can maintain in top 10 by the end of April, he will qualify for the global largest sporting festival this summer.

Two other bronzes of Viet Nam went to world champion Lai Gia Thanh in the men's 55kg category.

Different from Vinh, Thanh was good in snatch. He finished third with a 116kg.

The gold and silver went to Natthawat Chomchuen of Thailand, who lifted 119kg on his third attempt, and Pang Un Chol of North Korea who made 116kg.

The SEA Games multi-time champion Thanh however, did not succeed in the clean and jerk. He failed to be in top three as his best of 134kg placed him at fourth.

Pang (150kg), Chomchuen (145kg) and Witoon Mingmoon of Thailand (135kg) brought home medals.

In the total, Thanh took his second bronze with his combined result of 251kg. He was behind Pang (269kg) and Chomchuen (261kg).

It was the unexpected performance of the Vietnamese who topped the world championship last September when he lifted 123kg, 146kg and 269kg, respectively.

The Asian championship sees more than 230 weightlifters from 34 countries and regions in action in Tashkent including several world, Asian and Olympic champions.

It will continue till February 10 and the last Vietnamese athlete Pham Thi Hong Thanh will compete in the women's 71kg class in the next day.

Thanh is also Viet Nam's Olympic hope. She is No 15 in the Paris Olympic qualification list and is asked to try her best to advance to top 10 in the rest three months before the deadline.

Also during the tournament, the Asian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) held there its annual congress.

China and India were announced as the hosts of the next two Asian Veterans Championships and Kuwait was awarded its first major international competition, the 2025 Youth and Junior Championships.

Jiangshan, the hometown of the double Olympic champion Zhan Xugang, will host the 2025 Asian Championships in its impressive 4,000-seat arena, and the 2026 Championships will be held in Gandhinagar, which is known as the "grassroots capital of Indian sport".

Exact dates are yet to be confirmed./.