North Korea’s Ri Song Gum delivered a historic performance at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday, winning the country’s first gold medal of the Games while setting three world records in the women’s 49kg weightlifting category.
Ri Breaks Three World Records
Ri produced a remarkable performance across both disciplines.
She lifted 94kg in the snatch, surpassing the previous world record of 93kg by one kilogram.
The North Korean lifter then broke the clean and jerk world record twice. She first lifted 116kg before raising the mark again with an impressive 121kg.
Her combined total of 215kg was seven kilograms better than the previous world record.
Third Asian Games Gold for Ri
The victory also placed Ri Song Gum in an elite group of weightlifters.
She became only the fourth weightlifter in history to win three Asian Games gold medals and the first woman to achieve the feat.
Ri joined Iran’s Mohammad Nassiri, South Korea’s Kim Tae-hyun and Iran’s Behdad Salimi, who each won three Asian Games weightlifting gold medals.
No weightlifter has yet won four Asian Games golds in the sport.
Mirabai Chanu Wins Silver for India
India’s Mirabai Chanu, the Tokyo 2021 Olympic silver medallist, finally secured her first Asian Games medal at her third attempt.
Chanu produced a combined lift of 198kg, including an 87kg snatch and a 111kg clean and jerk, to claim the silver medal.
The achievement adds another major honour to Chanu’s decorated career after she recently won gold at the Commonwealth Games.
Indonesia’s Diana Tri Wijayana completed the podium with a total of 191kg.
She lifted 88kg in the snatch and 103kg in the clean and jerk to secure the bronze medal.
Chanu’s silver contributed another medal to India’s tally at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games as the country continued its campaign across multiple sporting disciplines.
The result also marked another significant achievement for Chanu, while Ri’s record-breaking display gave North Korea a memorable start to its Asian Games campaign.