ROk's star lifter beats China's meng by 1kg in body weight

Dongguan, Guangdong province - The women's +75kg weightlifting final boiled down to body weight on Friday as Jang Mi-ran of the Republic of Korea (ROK) squeezed past China's Meng Suping by virtue of weighing 1 kg less than Meng after the two rivals were deadlocked.

Both women managed to hoist a total of 311kg at Dongguan Gymnasium, but the gold medal went to the ROK's Olympic champion after she weighed in at 115.92kg, 0.78kg lighter than Meng.

Mariya Grabovetskaya of Kazakhstan took the bronze after lifting 290kg.

"This is my third Asian Games. I couldn't quite crack it the past two times so I'm over the moon to have finally won it," said Jang, who finished with a silver medal at her first two Asiads, in 2002 and 2006.

"My performance at the world championships was not very good, but I never thought of giving up. I worked very hard to prepare for the Asian Games," said the 27-year-old.

The four-time world championships winner and former world record holder finished third at the worlds in Turkey this September with a total of 309kg.

Jang experienced a shaky start to her Guangzhou Games campaign by failing to match Meng's first snatch of 130kg .

Jang made it on her second attempt, but failed on her third to finish 5kg behind Meng, something she made amends for in the clean and jerk by lifting 181kg to Meng's 176kg.

Jang started weightlifting in 1998 and made her international debut at the 2002 Asian Games at home in Busan, where she was defeated by China's Tang Gonghong. Two years later at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Jang lost their rematch by a total of 2.5kg .

The Korean was a force to be reckoned with at the worlds from 2005-07, pocketing three successive titles before triumphing at the Beijing Olympics the following year with a total of 326kg, the standing world record.

After failing to repeat her gold run at the worlds in the past few years, Jang said grabbing her first Asiad title had given her a much-needed confidence boost as she prepares to defend her Olympic title in London in 2012.

"My physical condition is not at its best at the moment but I still managed to win. This is very important for me and it will help me prepare for the Olympics. I believe I can do better in the future," she said.

Meanwhile, runner-up Meng showed she is not a sore loser as she praised Jang's winning performance.

"To stand on the same platform with sister Jang Mi-ran and compete against her was really a very good experience for me. She is a very experienced athlete, while I'm still a rookie. I can learn a lot from her," said the 21-year-old.

"Losing because of my bodyweight was not an issue. I think the result just depends on how you perform on the day. If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose," she said.

On the men's side, Iranian Behdad Salimikordasiabi emerged as the strongest man in Asia after winning the +105kg class with a total of 440kg. Jeon Sang-guen of the ROK took silver and another Iranian, Sajjad Anoushiravani, collected bronze.

In an earlier match on Friday, China's Yang Zhe triumphed in the men's 105kg, followed by Ivan Efremov of Uzbekistan and Sergey Istomin of Kazakhstan.

China Daily