Female lifters bring in 16th Olympic slot for Vietnam

The women’s weighlifting team came out on top of the Asian zonal Olympic qualification tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, booking Vietnam an additional place in the world’s largest sporting event, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this summer.

The Vietnamese women’s weightlifting team

As regulated, the top six teams at the 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Uzbekistan will be eligible for the Rio Olympics, with classification based on the achievements of the four lifters with the best total lifts in each team.

Vietnam’s four best performers are Nguyen Thi Thuy in the 48kg (fourth place, 28 points), Hoang Thi Duyen in the 58kg (sixth place, 28 points), Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai in the 63kg (bronze medal, 28 points) and Le Thi Tham in the 69kg category (bronze medal, 28 points).

With a total of 112 points, Vietnam ranked first among the six teams qualifying for the Rio Games, followed by Uzbekistan (101 points), India (100 points), Mongolia (96 points), the Philippines (91 points) and Turkmenistan (83 points).

The female lifter who will represent Vietnam to compete in Rio has not been decided yet.

This is the 16th Olympic ticket won by Vietnamese athletes so far, following two in gymanstics, three in fencing, one in swimming, two in wrestling, one in track and field, one in rowing, two in shooting and three in men’s weightlifting.

The performance of the female lifters also made the weightlifting team Vietnam’s top Olympic place winners in history, with one for women and three for men.

(Source: NDO)