Olympic champion Om Yun-Chol broke his own world record in the clean and jerk on his way to North Korea’s first gold medal of the Incheon Asian Games.
Yun-Chol lifted 170kg to better his old record by 1kg in the men’s 56kg class and also set a Games record with a combined total of 298kg.
Indians disappoint
Meanwhile, India started its campaign on a dismal note as all the three lifters who took the field on Saturday finished in the bottom half of the table in their respective weight categories. Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu — the gold and silver medallist at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games — came a cropper by finishing ninth and 10th respectively in a field of 13 in the women’s 48kg category. Mirabai lifted a total of 75kg in snatch, and 96kg in clean and jerk for an overall effort of 171kg while Sanjita managed a total of 166kg (73+93).
Sukhen Dey finished 12th out of 14 in the men’s 56kg category. Dey had a total lift of 242kg (106+136).