Iran Finishes Fifth in World Weightlifting War
Bagging 117 points, Iran leaped two spots in comparison with its position in the 72nd edition, following champion China, Turkey, Russia, and Romania, which stood top to fourth among the 71 participating states with 172, 164, 153, and 119 points.
The eight-member Iran finished runner-up to China in terms of medals with an asset of four golds and one bronze. The Chinese garnered six gold, five silver, and two bronze medals. Turkey took the third position with three gold, four silver, and five bronze medals.
Iran took the third title in the 72nd world event in Warsaw, Poland, in 2002. GOLDEN TOUCH
The world’s Hercules Hossein Rezazadeh touched gold again.
Iranians and even other nationals glued to their TV sets to watch the magnificent display of the strongest man in +105kg tough competitions.
In defiance of his leg injury, Rezazadeh lifted 457.5kg and the title among 35 beefy competitors, winning two golds and one bronze.
The 24-year-old Rezazadeh, who scooped up three golds and set a new clean and jerk record by 0.5kg by clearing 263kg in the 72nd edition in Warsaw, Poland, failed to improve his own snatch record, 213kg, in his third effort for 213.5kg and bagged bronze with 207.5kg.
Qatar celebrated the snatch title as Jaber S. Salem hoisted 210kg, standing above Ukraine's Artem Udachyn due to his lower body weight.
Rezazadeh retained the clean and jerk title, raising 250kg in his first move.
He did not succeed in handling 263.5kg -- 0.5kg above his own record -- in his second effort.
The world's weightlifting phenom refused to take the third chance.
Viktors Scrbatis from Latvia snatched the silver as he lifted 245kg and the bronze went to the Bulgarian representative, Velichko Cholakov, who kept 242.5kg above his head.
Another gold was added to the Iranian's asset when he grabbed the combined title with a total weight of 457.5kg -- 207.5 and 250.
Udachyn won the silver with 450kg (210 and 240) and Cholakov took the bronze with 447.5kg (205 and 242.5).
Iran took its first gold medal as Mohammad-Ali Falahati-Nejad stole the show in the 77kg category Wednesday.
The Iranian lifter hunted the clean and jerk and combined golds as he totally hoisted 357.5kg -- 155kg in snatch and 202.5kg in clean and jerk.
He finished eighth in snatch competition among 38 weightlifters participating in this class.
Mohammad-Hossein Barkhah, also representing Iran in 77kg, pulled out due to his hand injury he suffered while raising 165kg.
Li Hong-li of China grabbed the snatch coveted gold, lifting 162.5kg followed by the silver medalist Viacheslav Ershov from Russia and the bronze winner Gevorg Davtyan of Armenia with 162.5kg and 160kg respectively.
Davtyan won two silvers in clean and jerk and combined categories with 195kg and 355kg while the Turkish weightlifter Mehmet Yilmaz took the clean and jerk bronze with 195kg and his fellow countryman Reyhan Arabacioglu snatched the combined bronze with 355kg.