Asian Weightlifting Championships:
Yousefi makes statement comeback with C&J gold, new world record
Iranian weightlifter Alireza Yousefi marked his return to the global stage in style by setting a new world record of 261kg to win the clean & jerk gold in the men’s superheavyweight event at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Gandhinagar, India, on Sunday.
Making his first international appearance in 18 months after recovering from knee surgery, the 22-year-old prodigy added snatch bronze and total silver to his haul as the Iranian two-man squad finished fifth in the overall medals table – which also featured the women’s competition – with two golds as well as one silver and one bronze apiece.
Yousefi began his campaign with a 177kg lift in the snatch and then posted a successful 184kg effort before failing with his 189kg attempt, finishing third in the category behind Bahrain’s Olympic bronze medalist Gor Minasyan (212kg) and Amir Abdullaev (189kg) of Uzbekistan.
The Iranian, however, was in his own league in the clean & jerk event later in the afternoon, lifting 248kg with his first effort to secure the top prize.
Following last year’s weight class adjustments, new standard records were set by the International Weightlifting Federation, including 260kg for the clean & jerk in the men’s +110kg division. Yousefi’s second attempt ended in vain, but he bounced back to exceed the mark by one kilogram with his final lift of the day.
Minasyan settled for silver with 245kg – four kilograms clear of South Korean bronze winner Song Yeong-hwan.
Yousefi registered 445kg for the total silver, trailing Minasyan by 12 kilograms, while Song claimed his second bronze with 416kg.
Sunday’s medals were the latest testament to Yousefi’s emergence as a contender to dominate the superheavyweight class in the post-Lasha Talakhadze era. The two-time world junior champion made his senior international debut at the 2024 World Championships in impressive fashion, stunning fellow Iranian Alireza Davoudi and Armenian Olympic silver medalist Varazdat Lalayan to claim the C&J gold with a then-continental record lift of 262kg, before winning bronze in the total with 456kg.
Alireza Nasiri, also a two-time world junior gold medalist, was the other Iranian in action at the Asian Championships, after the national governing body decided to dispatch a depleted squad amid the wartime circumstances in the country, and with September’s Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and October’s World Championships on the horizon in a congested international season.
Nasiri had to recover from a disappointing start to his 110kg campaign on Saturday to finish with the clean & jerk gold.
The 20-year-old Iranian had three failed attempts (187kg, 188kg, 189kg) and missed out on the snatch podium, but delivered a much-improved performance in the clean & jerk, starting with 221kg. He then registered 231kg with his second effort, which proved enough for the Iranian prodigy to beat reigning Olympic champion Liu Huanhua of China to the top podium by one kilogram.
China dominated the medals table with a remarkable 21 golds, followed by North Korea, which collected 18 golds, Chinese Taipei (3) and Bahrain (3).