RRI Sports Club: Weightlifting
Eight athletes represent Romania at the World Weightlifting Championship in Ashkhabat in Turkmenistan.
Ștefan Baciu, 07.11.2018, 14:27
Romania’s delegation at the World Weightlifting Championship in Ashkhabat in Turkmenistan is made up of three women and one man. The Romanians have so far won one silver medal and one bronze. Since the ongoing edition of the World Weightlifting Championships also counts as a qualifying competition ahead of the Olympic Games scheduled in Tokyo in 2020, participation in the event is numerous, with 604 athletes from 88 countries proving their mettle in the championships.
In the 49-kilogram category, Elena Ramona Andries came in 5th in the overall rankings, with 188 kilograms, while the gold went to Thailand’s Chayuttra Pramongkhol, with 209 kg. The silver medal went to China’s Zhihui Hou, with 208 kilograms, while the winner of the bronze medal was also a Chinese athlete, Huihua Jiang, with 206 kilograms.
Cristina Iovu in the 55 kilogram category won the first medal for Romania. Iovu walked away with bronze in the clean and jerk style, with 123 kilograms, although the first 116-kilogram attempt failed. Winner of the gold medal was Thailand’s Sukanya Srisurat, with 127 kilograms, while Chinese weightlifter Wanqiong Zhang won silver, with 124 kilograms. Overall, Srisurat came in first with 232 kilograms, China’s Yajun Li was the runner-up athlete, with 225 kilograms, while Zhang walked away with bronze, also with 225 kilograms.
Cristina Iovu came in 4th, with 220 kilograms. Cristina Iovu was born in Chisinau, and she had previously competed for the Republic of Moldova and Azerbaijan.
In the 64-kilogram category, Loredana Toma won silver in the snatch event. Toma was unable to defend the world titles she won in 2017 in Anaheim, the United States, in the snatch, clean-and-jerk and overall, in the 63-kilogram category. Cristina Toma came in 2nd with 110 kilograms, after China’s Deng Wei, with 112 kilograms but ahead of Karyna Gorincheva of Kazakhstan, with 107 kilograms. In the clean and jerk event, Loredana Toma lifted 124 kilograms, yet she could not lift 128 and 129 kilograms, respectively. Loredana Toma came in 9th, and 5th according to the overall rankings.
Nicolae Onica is the fourth member of the Romania delegation. On Wednesday, Onica competes in the 96 kilograms category. The Romanian Agerpres news agency quoted information on the Romanian Weightlifting Federation’s webpage, whereby the International Weightlifting Federation’s Congress is staged concurrently with the ongoing World Championships. High on the agenda of the aforementioned Congress are issues related to the new qualification system and the new weight categories, in place as of November the 1st.
