Vietnam weightlifting team competes successfully at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championship

On September 5, Vietnamese weightlifters had an explosive competition day at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championship taking place in Saudi Arabia, when all the gold and silver medals in the men's 55kg category belonged to 2 Vietnamese athletes.

Weightlifter Lai Gia Thanh is currently the 32nd SEA Games champion in the 55kg category. (Source: IWF)

Weightlifter Lai Gia Thanh topped the rankings in the snatch with a score of 123kg. In the clean and jerk, this weightlifter lifted 146kg and maintained his top position in the men's 55kg weight class. Accordingly, he won another gold medal in the total lift with a score of 269kg.

Thus, it took Lai Gia Thanh 5 years to conquer the world No. 1 position in the men's 55kg category, after missing the 2018, 2019 and 2022 competitions.

During that time, Lai Gia Thanh won 7/10 different tournaments. He is also currently the SEA Games champion in the men's 55kg weight class.

Behind Lai Gia Thanh in all three rankings of the men's 55kg weight class at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships is teammate Ngo Son Dinh. He achieved 117kg in snatch, 144kg in clean and jerk and 261kg in total, winning 3 silver medals. The bronze medal in this weight class went to weightlifter Nattawat Chomchuen of Thailand.

The 2023 World Weightlifting Championships - the most important annual event in the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) competition system - will take place in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) from September 4-17, bringing together 719 top athletes from 153 countries and territories.

This is one of the tournaments that are counted as achievements to consider points for official qualification to attend the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Vietnamese weightlifters have not been awarded any official spots to the 2024 Olympics, so the athletes who have been invested heavily in this goal are all on the hopeful but challenging tour in the Middle East desert.

Pham Thi Hong Thanh, Quang Thi Tam, Pham Dinh Thi (female) and Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan, Lai Gia Thanh, Ngo Son Dinh, Trinh Van Vinh (male) were present at the tournament, carrying all the hope of Vietnamese sports.

On the competition day of September 6, two weightlifters Trinh Van Vinh and Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan will compete in the men's 61kg category. Meanwhile, weightlifter Quang Thi Tam will compete in the 59kg category on September 7 and Pham Thi Hong Thanh will compete in the women's 71kg category on September 13. Female weightlifter Pham Dinh Thi competed in the 49kg category and did not achieve good results.

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