Chinese weightlifters won four of the 10 categories in the Paris Olympic qualification program at the World Cup in Thailand, which suggests a tough way ahead should they want to replicate their seven-gold performance at Tokyo 2020.
PHUKET, Thailand, April 11 (Xinhua) -- China's weightlifting team wrapped up its World Cup campaign here on Wednesday on a high note, with Li Wenwen triumphing in the women's +87kg category.
Despite this success, the overall performance of China's weightlifters at the tournament suggests a challenging journey ahead if they want to replicate their Tokyo 2020 achievements - seven gold and one silver medal across eight categories - at the upcoming Paris Olympic Games.
The weightlifting schedule for Paris 2024 has been condensed, reducing the categories from 14 in Tokyo to 10. In Phuket, Chinese competitors won four categories: men's 61kg and 102kg, and women's 59kg and +87kg.
Several of Tokyo's gold medalists, such as Shen Lijun, Shi Zhiyong and Wang Zhouyu, did not meet expectations due to prolonged injuries, weight class adjustments, or the rise of new talent. Notably, in the men's 73kg category, 20-year-old Rizki Juniansyah of Indonesia clinched the title, breaking Shi's world record.
"The performance of the men's team was below expectations," said men's head coach Yu Jie, "First, we had a low success rate and did not perform at our level in training, and second, we need to strengthen our fighting spirit."
The World Cup in Phuket, which runs until Thursday, serves as a qualification event for Paris 2024. It is also a crucial test for Chinese weightlifters to compete among each other for a berth to Paris, as each National Olympic Committee will only be able to qualify one athlete per weight class, and three per gender across all weight categories - down from four each at Tokyo 2020.
It was not all bad news for China in Phuket. In the men's 102kg, Liu Huanhua won in dominant fashion, as the youngster eyes China's first Olympic gold medal in categories above 100kg.
"Liu Huanhua was splendid in the competition, he performed at an even higher level than in training and he showed great fighting spirit," Yu told Xinhua.
For China's women, Luo Shifang claimed her first world record in the women's 59kg category. "This has also been a category in which we have been dominated by opponents for many years," said Wang Guoxin, head coach of the women's team.
In women's +87kg category, Li Wenwen made a strong comeback from her injury last year and bagged all three gold medals in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total.
With the Paris weightlifting program to start in less than four months, the team has much still to do.
"We must identify the issues that have been exposed, analyze them thoroughly and resolve them," said Yu. "It's a good thing that the problems are exposed in a major event and we could learn what could go wrong in the Olympic Games so that we can address them before the Games." ■