A younger Chinese weightlifting squad may catch the limelight at the Olympic Games in Beijing as young buds showed their talents at the Chinese City Games.
"Young lifters especially some power men had outstanding performances in specific categories. Some could even replace veterans to compete at the Olympics." said Ma Wenguang, president of the Chinese Weightlifting Association (CWA).
Liao Hui caught the spotlight by spectacular performance as he lifted 342 kg in total to break the world junior record in the men's 69 kg division.
"He is definitely the successor in the 69 kg category in the national team. Liao will dominate this category after the Beijing Olympics." said Chen Wenbin, head coach of the Chinese men's team.
"If the veterans get injured before the Olympics, Liao may replace one of them to compete in Beijing." he added.
The previous world junior record in total was set by Taner Sagir at 375 kg at the Athens Olympics, seven kilograms short of Liao's.
Olympic Champions Zhang Guozheng and Shi Zhiyong are regarded as the favorites to take the gold at the Beijing Olympics in the men's 69 kg.
The 33-year-old Zhang claimed the world championship title in Chiang Mai with a total of 347 kg and Shi finished with the silver at 338 kg.
Liao was not the only Hercules to attract Chen's attention. The 20-year-old Li Lizhi hoisted a total of 286 kg in the men's 56 kg, three kilograms more than the winning result at the world championships in Chiang Mai, produced by Cha Kum-chol of DPR Korea.
The men's 62 kg category also witnessed a high-level competition when rookie Zhang Jie, 20, collected 310 kg in total to win the gold medal.
On the contrary, the world champion Yang Fan, lifting a total of 315 kg in Chiang Mai, failed three attempts in the jerk to bow out of the competition.
"It is possible that some new faces will compete at the Beijing Olympics if their performance are stable." Chen added.
Nevertheless, Chinese weightlifters witnessed poor results in heavy categories as all the results in the last four categories were far behind the world's top level. And power women's results at the City Games could not match those of Chinese veterans' at the worlds either.
The National team have decided to give rookies more international competing chances to get experiences preparing for the Olympic Games as Li is to make his debut at the World Cup in Apia, Samoa this November.
Chinese coaches called for a younger squad for the Beijing Olympics after several key power men suffered injuries at the world championships in Chiang Mai, although China underlined its strength by grabbing seven gold medals out of all 15 on offer.
Qiu Le, a two-time world champion in 2005 and 2006, injured his right elbow when competing in the men's 62kg class. Wu Meijin, Olympic silver medalist in the men's 56kg category, was struggling with waist injury.
Furthermore, Lu Yong strained his left ankle when competing in the men's 85kg division. He was finally placed seventh among ten lifters.
Altogether 128 male and 105 female lifters from 48 cities competed in eight categories for men and seven categories for women at the City Games.
Tipped as the cradle of the future stars, the 10-day City Games only featuring under-20 athletes aimed at finding the talents with potentials for the 2008 Olympics.
Source:Xinhua
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