Thanh wins two bronze medals at Asian Weightlifting Championship
Lai Gia Thanh won Vietnam two bronze medals at the Asian Weightlifting Championship on February 3 in Uzbekistan, placing third on both the total results and the snatch category.
Competing in the men's 55kg category, Thanh was against powerful athletes from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Chinese Taipei and Thailand.
In his three attempts in the snatch, Thanh bested 116kg after failing his first two attempts.
The second place went to Korean Pang Un Chol who started with a snatch of 112kg in his first attempt, failed his second, and went up to snatch 116kg for his third lift.
The gold medal went to Natthawat Chomchuen from Thailand, who started with a snatch of 115kg, went to snatch 117kg for his second and finished his snatch session with a lift of 119kg.
In the clean and jerk, Thanh took fourth place after failing his last attempt, and only managed to score a 134kg.
Pang became the gold winner with 150kg on his second attempt. He then went to try 153kg, but resulted in a no lift.
The silver medallist was Chomchuen, who started with a solid 145kg, and went on to try 149kg for his second and third attempt but resulted in both no lifts.
Witoon Mingmoon of Thailand secured third place with his first lift that scored 135kg. He attempted 150kg and 151kg in the next tries that resulted in a no lift.
In total results, Pang took gold with a total of 266kg, followed by Chomchuen with 264kg and Thanh with 250kg.
It was a poor result for the Vietnamese athlete who fell short of his usual performance in practise and previous competitions.
Thanh topped the world with all three golds at the 2023 world championship last September in Saudi Arabia.
The Asian championships take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from 3 -10 February. It is an Olympic qualification event. The men's 55kg category, however, will not be included at the Paris games.
Vietnam has sen tathletes competing in the men's 55kg and 61kg, and women's 49kg, 55kg and 71kg classes.
