Colombian lifter Lopez smashes three world youth records

GEORGE TOWN: Colombian Yeison Lopez smashed three world youth (Under-17) records en route to three golds in the men’s 77kg category at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Youth World Championships.

The 17-year-old rewrote his own previous records for the snatch, clean and jerk and overall total which he set at the World Junior (Under-20) Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, in June.

Lopez’s ability to sweep the golds was never in doubt as he finished far ahead of the rest of the field at the SPICE Arena here yesterday.

Lopez improved on his 156kg world record in the snatch by 4kg with a successful 160kg lift. He finished a massive 15kg ahead of silver medallist Harrison Maurus of the United States.

In the clean and jerk, the Colombian’s best effort of 191kg was 1kg more than his own previous mark. Again, he finished 15kg ahead of the second-placed Maurus.

Lopez’s overall total of 351kg was 5kg more than his previous record of 346kg. His winning margin of 30kg ahead of silver medallist Maurus was also the widest winning margin in these championships.

Malaysia’s Muhamad Rashdan Sulaiman finished 17th out of the 23 competitors after managing to lift 110kg in the snatch and 132kg in the clean and jerk for a 242kg total.

In the men’s 85kg, Venezuelan Keydomar Sanchez took advantage of Latvian Ritvars Suharevs’ misfortune to bag the clean and jerk and overall golds.

Suharevs won the snatch gold with a 154kg effort, but came undone in the clean and jerk. The 17-year-old failed to post a single result in three attempts.

The 17-year-old Sanchez took advantage to post a 185kg winning lift in the clean and jerk, and wrapped up the overall gold with a 329kg total.

Colombian Juan Arboleda settled for three silvers, while Armenia’s Karen Avagyan took home the bronze in the snatch and overall. South Korean Bang Seohyun came in third in the clean and jerk.