Olympic champion Chen Yanqing broke three world records in the
women's 58kg class weightlifting on day 2 of the Asian Games on Sunday on a day when China won
13 gold medals out of the 29 on offer.
Chen, 27, snatched 111kg in her third attempt to beat the 110kg
world record. She then went on to jerk 140kg surpassing the world
record by one kilogram, thus also raising the total for the 'snatch
and jerk' world record of the total to 251kg. The previous world
total record of 242kg was set by fellow Chinese Gu Wei in 2005.
"I feel really great, my priority was to be the champion," said
Chen, who came out of retirement this year in order to win a second
Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
"I thought it over and over and then decided to train again for
the 2008 Beijing Olympics," she said.
The world records were the cherry on the cake for the Chinese
weightlifting team officials as China captured all six gold medals
on offer during the first two days of competition.
"It is a gift to the host Doha and whole Asia," said Ma
Wenguang, president of the Chinese Weightlifting Association, who
was full of praise of Chen. "Chen is powerful, but breaking world
records was not so easy for her. I am happy that she did that."
The day's other two weightlifting gold medals went to Olympic
champion Zhang Guozheng in the men's 69kg division, and reigning
world champion Qiu Le won the men's 62kg category.
Chinese women followed the men's successes to lift their ninth
consecutive gymnastics team title at the Asian Games, beating North
Korea into second place by a large margin at the Aspire
Stadium.
China collected a total of 239.400 points, 10.850 ahead of
silver medalists North Korea (228.550). Japan finished third in
225.950 points while South Korea rounded out the East Asian quatuor
on 215.650 points.
China is likely to clean sweep all the gymnastics titles in
women's disciplines, leading the five individual events in
qualifications.
China also had a perfect ending in the table tennis event,
collecting both men's and women's team gold. It was the Chinese
men's seventh Asian Games table tennis team title. For the women,
this was a sweet revenge, banishing the memory of their flop at the
Busan Asiad two years past.
(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2006)
