IWF Weightlifting World Cup 2024 – Men’s 102 kg Recap

Day 9 and the Men’s 102-kg category at the World Cup in Thailand brought us a striking session. Tough battle, outperforming personal records, triumph of setting new World Records, and so on.

All these feelings we witnessed today during the Men’s 102 division performance. Every lifter was eager to do their maximum to get a quota for the Olympic Games. Watch the video to feel the burst of warriors’ emotions and see new faces in the top positions.

Athletes’ Presentation

Today 13 weightlifters were competing in Phuket intending to set higher personal bests and break new records prevailing their opponents on the way to get the winning positions in the category. 

Here’s the list of the expected leaders of today’s competition:

Liu Huanhua, a World Champion and Asian Games champion who set the Games Record in Clean & Jerk and totals.

The Armenian weightlifter Garik Karapetyan, the European Champion and the current Junior World Record holder in Snatch, Clean & Jerk, and totals.

His teammate Gasparyan Samvel, a bronze holder at the 2022 World Championships in Bogota. He’s also a two-time gold medalist at the European championships in the 102 kg event at the 2021 European Champs and also in the 109 kg at the 2023 Europeans.

Snatch results

The performance in the Snatch exercise started from 170 kg.

• 10: JANG Yeonhak – 175 kg
• 9: SHARANKOU Siarhei – 175 kg
• 8: MATYAKUBOV Shahzadbek -176 kg
• 7: BACHA Aymen – 176 kg
• 6: DEHDAR Reza – 179 kg
• 5: LIU Huanhua – 181 kg
• 4: TSIKHANTSOU Yauheni – 183 kg

On this contest day, 45 % of all attempts were successful.

Top 3 leaders’ results

Now let’s analyze the Top 3 lifters’ performance:

• 🥉: KARAPETYAN Garik – 185 kg
• 🥈: PAREDES MONTANO Lesman – 186 kg
• 🥇: HASANBAYEV Davranbek – 187 kg

The bronze medal moved to the Armenian weightlifter Garik Karapetyan who lifted 180 kg at the first attempt. Then he decided to increase the weights by 5 kilos, namely 185 kg, but this attempt resulted in no lift. The last lift of the same 185 kg was successful that brought him third place in the Snatch exercise.

Paredes Montano Lesman from Bahrain did a lift of 181 kg on the first attempt, then ordered 186 kg which he snatched meticulously in the second attempt. While he didn’t use his last attempt, still clinching the silver medal.

Hasanbayev Davranbek from Turkmenistan snatched 180 kg on the first attempt, 185 kg on the second lift, finishing with a lift of 187 kg that brought him victory in Snatch.

Everyone was expecting to see the performance of the Qatari prodigy Meso Hassouna, but unfortunately he didn’t lift today despite being in the entry list.

Clean & Jerk results

The contest in the Clean & Jerk discipline started with a weight of 208 kg.

• 10: DEHDAR Reza – 208 kg
• 9: MATYAKUBOV Shahzadbek – 210 kg
• 8: Shukurlu Ali – 210 kg
• 7: CHKHEIDZE Irakli – 211 kg
• 6: PAREDES MONTANO Lesman – 212 kg
• 5: KARAPETYAN Garik – 216 kg
• 4: TSIKHANTSOU Yauhen – 217 kg

On this contest day, 42 % of all attempts were successful.

Top 3 leaders’ results

Let’s describe the performance of the Top 3 lifters:

• 🥉: RASULBEKOV Bekdoolot – 220 kg
• 🥈: OPELOGE Don – 221 kg
• 🥇: LIU Huanhua – 232 kg

Rasulbekov Bekdoolot from Kyrgyzstan secured the third place becoming a bronze medalist in Clean & Jerk. He lifted 208 kg on the first attempt, 218 kg on the second lift, and finalized his performance with a lift of 220 kg that he did successfully.

Silver went to Opeloge Don from Samoa: he ordered 215 kg on the first attempt, but failed this lift. Then he repeated the 215-kg lift on the second attempt that resulted in success. The last lift of 221 kg brought him a silver medal.

The winner of the Clean & Jerk exercise was the Chinese lifter Liu Huanhua: he started from 220 kg on the first attempt which he did at ease. The second attempt to lift 225 kg also resulted in a green light, while the third attempt of 232 kg finished with a gold medal and a new World Record.

It needs to be mentioned that six athletes from Group A didn’t perform in the exercise, while several lifters refused to use all their attempts and stopped on the first or second lifts.

Total results

• 🥇 LIU Huanhua – 413 kg
• 🥈KARAPETYAN Garik  – 401  kg
• 🥉TSIKHANTSOU Yauheni  – 400  kg
• 4: PAREDES MONTANO Lesman – 398 kg
• 5: HASANBAYEV Davranbek – 392 kg
• 6: OPELOGE Don – 391 kg
• 7: DEHDAR Reza – 387 kg
• 8: MATYAKUBOV Shahzadbek – 386 kg
• 9: RASULBEKOV Bekdoolot – 385 kg
• 10: SHARANKOU Siarhei – 382 kg

The bronze medalist was Yauheni Tsikhantsou who finished with 400 kg overall. Although, in both Snatch and Clean & Jerk exercises he ranked fourth.

Garik Karapetyan from Armenia clinched silver with a total of 401 kg, just one kilo ahead of the third-place-holder. We have such a result since he was third in Snatch and just fifth in Clean & Jerk. By the way, Garik passed his teammate Samvel Gasparyan for the place at the Olympics, so we’ll see Karapetyan in Paris this summer.

Liu Huanhua from China became a winner with a total of 413 kg, 12 kilos ahead of the silver medalist. Despite being fifth in Snatch, he reanimated his ranking and became first in Clean & Jerk, with a new World Record in total.

Final points

The vigorous competition in the Men’s 102-kg category brought us new leaders who showed unexpected results and moved to the Top ranking of the division.

China proves its solid technical background in weightlifting and mental basis that helps the lifters to maintain peak form and show good results constantly.

The absence of Ibrahim Fares Al-Bakh Hassouna changed the overall rating in this Olympic category. It gave other athletes an opportunity to improve their stats and finally qualify for the Olympics.

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