The 2021 Asian Weightlifting Championships opened in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on the early morning of April 18. Hunan athletes Hou Zhihui and Liao Qiuyun won four gold medals during the women’s weightlifting 49kg and 55kg events on the first day of the competition.

In the women’s 49kg Group A final, Hou Zhihui from Hunan’s Guiyang County succeeded in all her six attempts, and finally won the championship with new world records in the snatch (112kg) and the total (213kg). “This time I was able to focus on the attempts, thinking about how to lift the weight in front of me. I enjoy the feeling of conquering a barbell. It makes me very happy,” said Hou Zhihui. She added that she did not even know the amount of weight lifted in the third snatch, but just followed the coach’s instructions.

Liao Qiuyun, a girl from Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, competed in the women’s 55kg event in the evening. Although she had failed in two attempts, she won the clean and jerk and total titles with a performance of 124 kg and 222 kg respectively.

According to the schedule, another two Hunan athletes, Chen Lijun and Zhang Wangli, will compete in the men's 67kg and women's 76kg events on the evening of April 19 and 22 Beijing time respectively.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translators: Kuang Zhenzhen; Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn