TEHRAN: Iran struck gold for a second consecutive day at the Weightlifting World Championships when Ali Hashemi won the men’s 1105-kilogram class.
Hashemi finished on 404kg ahead of Arturs Plesnieks of Latvia, who lifted 402kg, and Uzbek Ivan Efremov – who had beaten Hashemi in September the last time they met – on 399kg.
On Sunday, Sohrab Moradi won the 94 kilograms with two world records and Iran has a chance of sweeping all three heaviest weight categories when Salimi Kordasiabi and Saeed Alihosseini compete in the super-heavyweights on Tuesday.
In the day’s other medal event, Anastasiia Hotfrid became Georgia’s first female medallist at the World Championships when she won the 90 kilograms class. Hotfrid’s total of 265kg was 10kg too good for silver medallist Maria Valdes of Chile, with Domincan Republic’s Crismery Santana a further 1kg behind.
The 40-year-old Ecuadorian Oliba Nieve, who has six Pan American titles, was third in the snatch and fourth overall. She is 19 years older than Hotfrid.
