Mon, May 08, 2023 page16

• Taiwan weightlifters win six medals

  POWERFUL PAIR: Teen Chen Guan-ling cleaned up at the Asia champs, taking home three gold medals and setting national records, while Kuo Hsing-chun won three bronze

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  Taiwan’s Kuo Hsing-chun yesterday competed with an injury at Asian Weightlifting Championships, but still won three bronze medals, while her 18-year-old compatriot Chen Guan-ling on Saturday won three gold medals, setting a new national record for each lift in the process.

  Kuo lifted a 102kg snatch and 128kg clean and jerk to score a combined lift of 230kg and take home the three bronze medals in the women’s 59kg division in Jinju, South Korea.

  In the snatch, Kuo placed third, lifting 98kg on her first attempt, followed by successful lifts of 100kg and 102kg.

  

  Chen Guan-ling, third left, and Kuo Hsing-chun, second right, pose with their medals at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Jinju, South Korea, yesterday.

  Photo: CNA courtesy of Lin Geng-neng

  The 2020 Olympic gold medalist tried but failed to lift 132kg and 135kg in the clean and jerk, which would have been enough to secure the top spot in the clean and jerk and second in the combined lift. China’s Luo Shifang and Pei Xinyi took home gold and silver in Kuo’s division.

  Coach Lin Geng-neng said that Kuo’s right lower back has been injured.

  “Actually, I am trying to coexist with the injury,” Kuo said.

  She said that as long as she can compete without worsening the injury, she would.

  Meanwhile, New Taipei City high-school student Chen won gold in the snatch, clean and jerk, and combined lift categories in the women’s 55kg division.

  In the snatch, Chen won with a 90kg lift on her third try, beating Vietnam’s Vo Thi Quynh Nhu, who lifted 88kg, and Uzbekistan’s Jamila Panfilova, who lifted 86kg.

  In the clean and jerk, Chen’s second lift of 110kg pretty much guaranteed her a gold in the combined lift, but left her behind India’s Bindyarani Devi, who lifted 111kg.

  Chen then lifted 114kg on her third attempt to break Taiwan’s record in the weight class, which was good enough to win gold in the clean and jerk, after Devi could not complete her 115kg attempt.

  Chen’s combined total of 204kg ensured that she finished 10kg ahead of silver medalist Devi and 12kg ahead of bronze medalist Vo.

  It is not the first time she had broken national records.

  She set the previous mark in her weight class with a combined lift of 190kg in her professional debut at the World Weightlifting Championships in Bogota in December last year. She finished ninth in the event.

  Her 204kg performance in South Korea would have been good enough for second place in Bogota.

  Lin, who is also Chen’s coach, said it is notable that she was able to improve her performance by more than 10kg in the combined lift in under a year, calling her a rising star.

  The Asian Weightlifting Championships are one of the events that is used to determine who qualifies for the Olympics.

  Chen might not have a shot at next year’s Paris Olympics, given that only the women’s 49kg and 59kg weight classes are contested.
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