Sport - Afro-Asian Games   

Wang Li brooks no resistance

By Our Special Correspondent

Nigeria's Jacob Edward attempting to lift 195kg in the 85kg category of the weightlifting competitions in the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Edward took the top spot. — Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Hyderabad Oct. 28. World Record holder, Wang Li of China, was the cynosure of all eyes at the weightlifting competition of the Afro-Asian Games at the Yousufguda indoor stadium here this evening. She lived up to her reputation as she won the gold in the women's 58kg category but her total of 227.5kg was well below her world mark of 240kg. The 18-year-old also holds the World Record in snatch, which stands at 110kgs. She made an attempt to break that record here today but failed in her try of 110.5kg.

The clear cut superiority that the diminutive Chinese girl enjoyed was evident from the fact that she entered the fray in the snatch event when the bar was loaded at 97.5kg. By then all others had completed their lifts. Wang Li straightaway took the lead with her very first attempt. She then upped the ante with a 105kg lift.

The bar was then loaded with 110kg and if she had lifted this weight she would have equalled her own world mark, but with just a few seconds remaining, she decided to opt for half a kilo more in an attempt to break her own record. The expectant crowd thought they were about to see the World Record being smashed in front of their eyes, a very rare event in this country and a feat never witnessed in Hyderabad before. But Wang Li couldn't better her own mark.

In the jerk Wang Li lifted 115kg and then 122.5kg with her first two attempts and decided not to take the third as the gold was already hers.

Nigeria took the men's gold through Jacob Edward and also picked up a silver in the women's category when Franca Gbodo was second to Wang Li. For India, Tuesday was the first day that it failed to get any medal in weightlifiting.

The results: Men: 85 kgs: 1. Jacob Edward (Ngr) 150 kgs + 195 kgs = 345 kgs; 2. Shahrouz Ghorbani (Irn) 157.5 kgs + 185 kgs = 342.5 kgs; 3. Khalmatov Akramzhan (Kaz) 145 kg = 190 kgs = 335 kgs.

Women: 58 kg: 1. Wang Li (Chn) 105 kgs + 122.5 kgs = 227.5 kgs; 2. Franca Gbodo (Ngr) 95 kgs + 117.5 kgs = 212.5 kgs; 3. Lin Tsu-Ling (Tpe) 87.5 kgs + 110 kgs = 197.5 kgs.

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