Taiwanese woman breaks world weightlifting mark

Taiwan's Li Feng-ying (?鋒-^) broke a world record and grabbed three gold medals on the first day of competition in the women's event of the World Weightifting Championships, which began Sunday in Athens, Greece.

The mother of a two-year-old broke her own world record for the jerk in the women's 53kg category with a lift of 121.5kg. She had set the previous record of 121kg at the Asian Championships in Wuhan, China, in August.

Li took her second gold medal of the day in the women's 53kg snatch with a lift of 95kg. Her third came in the women's 53kg snatch-and-jerk with a lift of 215kg.

The nearest competitor in her class, from Indonesia, came in a full 12.5kg behind.

It was reportedly a surprise victory for the Taiwanese as the favorite, Wang Xiufeng (?y捶q芬) from China, ended up in third place with a snatch-and-jerk total of 197.5 kg.

Li, 24, is a mainland-trained athlete who in 1995 married Taiwanese weightlifter Chung Yung-chi (鍾永|N), who is at present a weightlifting coach in southern Taiwan.

Now an ROC citizen, Li is entitled to national cash prizes worth NT$5.5 million (US$173,500) in Taiwan for her winning performances on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Chu Nan-mei (|陲n美), another woman weightlifter on the Chinese Taipei team, won a bronze medal in the women's 48kg snatch by lifting 80kg.

Chinese Taipei coach Tsai Wen-yi (1/22溫義) said he was happy with his two stars' performance on the first day of the competition. He also gave credit to the "enthusiastic support" of Taiwanese spectators in Greece during the contests, describing it as a "genuine lift" for the athletes.

The Chinese Taipei team has eight weightlifters competing against some 1,500 athletes from 92 countries and is hoping to finish as high as sixth overall in group competitions, enabling it to qualify for the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, Tsai said.

The competition will be held for ten days.