Tuan wins gold, silver medals at world championships

Thach Kim Tuan has won one gold and two silver medals at the ongoing World Weightlifting Championships 2014 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.- Photo news.zing.vn

Tuan, who was named the most outstanding athlete at the Junior World Weightlifting Championship 2014, held in Kazan, Russia, in August, competed in the men's 56kg category, alongside 31 other strong contenders.

In the snatch event, he succeeded in lifting 135kg to take the gold medal, breaking his Asian Games record of 134kg which he set in Incheon, South Korea, last month.

The silver and bronze medals went to China's Li Fabin (134kg) and Long Qingquan (133kg) respectively.

In the clean-and-jerk event, the Vietnamese athlete lifted only 161kg to get the silver medal, just behind gold medallist Om Yun Chol from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea who lifted 168kg.

Overall, both Tuan and Chol lifted 296kg. However, Tuan came second because he was heavier than his rival by 40g.

According to coach Huynh Huu Chi, the 20-year-old champion has set 11 new records in Almaty, comprising three national records, three national junior records and two world junior records, as well as one Asian record and two Asian junior records.

Chi said it is the first time that a Vietnamese athlete has reached the top world ranks. Former weightlifter Hoang Anh Tuan, who won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, had also won two silver and four bronze medals during the three times he participated in the world event.

At the World Weightlifting Championships last year, Tuan won only three bronze medals with a total lift of 288kg. Within a year, Tuan surprised many by lifting an additional 11kg at the world event this year. As Chi said, that is an unusual progress in weightlifting.

With the medals won in Kazakhstan, Tuan will be awarded VND350 million (US$1,600) by the State and sponsors.

Now Tuan is a gold medal hope of Viet Nam for the next Olympics, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to 21, 2016.