Vietnamese weightlifters secure four medals at world championships

Vietnam’s weightlifting team won two silver and two bronze medals in the women’s 48kg and the men’s 56kg categories at the ongoing 2015 IWF World Championships in Houston, USA on November 21 (local time).

Vuong Thi Huyen pocketed two gold medals for Vietnam at the 2015 Asian Championships in Phuket, Thailand two months ago.

The women’s 48kg event saw Vuong Thi Huyen’s brilliant performance as she brought home two silver medals and one bronze for Vietnam.

Huyen ended up in second place in the snatch competition with an 85kg lift, three kilograms lighter than that of the Chinese gold medalist Jiang Huihua.

She then claimed a bronze medal with a clean and jerk lift of 109kg before securing the second individual silver for a total lift of 194kg, noticeably surpassing defending Olympic runner-up, Hiromi Miyake of Japan, who only managed to secure two bronzes.

Earlier the same day, Vietnam’s major hope, Thach Kim Tuan failed to live up to expectations as he only grabbed a bronze medal in the men’s 56kg with a total lift of 287kg, behind Om Yun Chol of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (302kg) and Wu Jingbiao of China (302kg).

Tuan’s achievements this year did not match his successes at last year’s tournament where he claimed a gold medal with a snatch lift of 135kg, and grabbed two additional silvers with a clean and jerk lift of 161kg and a total lift of 296kg.

Vietnam ended up in 21st position overall with one gold and two silver medals at the 2014 competition in Almaty, Kazakhstan. A ranking from 19th-25th at this year’s event will secure Vietnam three direct places at the 2016 Rio Olympics Games.

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)