Asian Weightlifting Championships:
Sharifi excels in superheavyweight as Iran collects eight medals
Ayat Sharifi brought the curtain down on a decent run for the Iranian three-man squad at the Asian Weightlifting Championships by bagging three medals – including double golds – in the +109kg contests in Jiangshan, China, on Thursday.
The final-day results took Iran’s medal haul to five golds, double silvers, and one bronze as Behdad Salimi’s trio finished runner-up in the men’s team standings.
China won the men’s team title, thanks to a remarkable nine gold and silver medals apiece, plus five bronzes.
Sharifi had to settle for the snatch silver medal after registering a 195kg lift with his third attempt, with South Korean Hwang Wooman claiming the gold with 196kg, while Uzbekistan’s Amir Abdullaev finished on 182kg for the bronze.
The Iranian, however, went on to raise 227kg above his head to beat Hwang to the clean & jerk gold by two kilograms, before a total tally of 422kg secured a second gold of the afternoon for Sharifi.
Hwang also took the total silver, with his fellow-South Korean grabbing the C&J (220kg) and total (396kg) bronze medals.
Iranian duo Alireza Moeini and Ali A’alipour – winner of three world medals between them last year – had claimed five of the nine medals up for grabs in the 96kg class earlier in the competition.
It was an Iranian one-two in the snatch event with Moeini achieving the gold with 180kg – six kilograms clear of A’alipour – while the host’s Qian Feixiang finished third with 173kg.
An Asian 89kg champion last year, A’alipour raised the bar in the clean & jerk category by making a 216kg effort for the gold, followed by South Korea’s Won Jong-beom (215kg) and Feixiang (207kg).
A’alipour took his tally to double golds, thanks to 390kg in total, while Won (385kg) and Moeini (383kg) stood next to him on the podium.