The 17-year-old national champion Li Ping of China made her successful debut at the World Weightlifting Championships as she broke two world junior records to win the women's 53kg gold in Nov. 11 on Thursday.

"I didn't have much confidence before the competition, but when I made a good lift in the snatch, I felt I could perform my best tonight," Li told Xinhua after the competition.

Li started breaking world junior record when she lifted 123kg in her first attempt in the jerk, totalling 221kg to smash the previous record of 220kg written by her compatriot Deng Jianying.

Li flinged her power in her second lift in the jerk to hoist 126kg to break the world junior record of jerk by 1kg, refreshing the record of the total to 224kg, 4kg more than the previous one by Deng.

Li tried to slam the senior world record of jerk and total in her last attempt by asking for 131kg but failed.

The 21-year-old Junpim Kuntatean of Thailand challenged Li during the competition but had to settle with the silver at 223kg, just 1kg less than Li's. Yudergue Contreras of Dominican Republic placed third with a total of 211kg.

Called up into the national squad in May, Li made a huge coup at the National Games in October when she lifted a total of 230kg to win her first domestic gold medal.

"She showed her strong mental power in the competition. I think winning at the worlds was her first good step toward Beijing Olympics," Li's coach He Yicheng said.

Source: Xinhua