Weightlifting

Vietnamese athletes pose for photo before leaving for the Saudi Arabian 2023 IWF World Weightlifting Championships. VNS Photo Hồng Thanh

HÀ NỘI — Seven athletes from Việt Nam are in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, for the 2023 IWF World Weightlifting Championships.

The team features three women, Quàng Thị Tâm, Phạm Đình Thi and Phạm Thị Hồng Thanh, and four men, Nguyễn Trần Anh Tuấn, Lại Gia Thành, Ngô Sơn Đỉnh and Trịnh Văn Vinh. They arrived in Riyadh on September 1.

The tournament runs from September 4-17 and is one of two mandatory qualifying events for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Athletes must appear in Riyadh if they are to be in line to earn one of the 10 quota spots in each of the 10 Olympic weight classes via the IWF Olympic Qualification Ranking.

There are a total of 20 weight classes, 10 per gender, being contested in Riyadh. Separate medals are awarded for the snatch, clean and jerk, and total weight.

Việt Nam's best hopes are on Thành and Đỉnh who did well in the men's 55kg category last year.

Thành topped the podium of the snatch event with a lift of 118kg meanwhile Sơn took a bronze in the snatch, lifting 117kg and a silver in the total with 260kg.

Thành is the 2022 Asian and 2023 Southeast Asian Games champion and Sơn won three silvers from the 2023 Asian championship. He just finished on top of the Mekong Delta Sports Games last week.

Another medal candidate is Thanh in the women's 71kg pool.

According to the coaching board, Thanh earned remarkable progress in her recent training and is tipped to have good results in this event.

Last year, Thanh also took part in the world championship's 64kg category which saw her unforgettable memory when she failed in all three attempts in the snatch event after a good lift of 123kg in the clean and jerk.

It eliminated from the total weight ranking.

Trịnh Văn Vinh is expected to shine again at the world championship in his return to competitions after a doping ban. Photo tuoitre.vn

Former world champion Vinh will be back in this competition in the men's 61kg for the first time after his four-year ban because of doping.

It is his second international tournament since the ban ended earlier this year.

Vinh won a gold in the snatch event in the 2017 championship with a lift of 136kg which was equal to a result of Chinese He Yueji who won silver last year and 1kg less than gold medalist Li Fabin, also from China.

After the world championship, lifters will take part in the 2024 IWF World Cup from April 2-11 in Phuket, Thailand.

In other news, a list of six athletes who will compete in the Chinese 19th Asian Games later this month has been released.

In addition to Vinh, Anh (men's 61kg), Tâm (women's 59kg), Thi (women's 49kg), other names are SEA Games champion Trần Minh Trí (men's 67kg) and former SEA Games bronze medal holder Hoàng Thị Duyên (women's 59kg).

They set a target of one bronze from the Hangzhou Games.

"I kept training hard during the four-year ban. It helped me to maintain my performance. My biggest problem is my mind. I did not have good result in the recent Asian championship because of the unfamiliar feeling with the competition environment after years out of action," said Vinh.

"In the world championship and the Asian Games, I will definitely do my best. It will be huge pressure out there but if I can deliver all I have, I will have no regret." VNS