Bahrain, Day 3: PRK star needs world record to beat newcomer team-mate – and Turkiye celebrates double success

A spectacular contest between PRK team-mates was the highlight on day three of the IWF World Championships in Bahrain, which featured three more world records and the first medals on total for Europe.

PRK won both events, 67kg for men and 55kg for women, and claimed one of those world records. Turkiye had a double success in the men’s contest when Kaan Kahriman broke a junior world record and Yusuf Fehmi Genc finished third on total.

There were six junior world record attempts in the women’s evening session but only one was successful, a clean and jerk by third-placed Aleksandra Grigoryan from Armenia.

Ri Won Ju (PRK)

Five minutes before the end of the 67kg contest it looked as if the clean and jerk world record holder and multiple winner Ri Won Ju would be beaten by 21-year-old Pak Pyol, who had never lifted internationally before today.

Pak won snatch gold and still led by 4kg with two attempts remaining. He missed the first, a world record clean and jerk attempt at 190kg. Ri then made 190kg to improve his own world record by 1kg.

Aleksandra Grigoryan (ARM)

Out came Pak to try again at 191kg, which would have given him the world record on total too. He failed, leaving Ri with a five-from-six 146-190-336 for his fourth straight victory.

Pak made 150-182-332, and the PRK pair finished clear of Genc on 146-181-327. Zheng Xinhao from China, the snatch silver medallist, was fourth on 148-176-324. Kahriman took snatch bronze on 148kg, a junior world record, and finished fifth on 148-175-323.

Kaan Kahriman (TUR)

Hector Garcia from Colombia, who was off the international stage for seven years until this year, made a career-best 145-164-309 in the B Group for sixth place. Garcia, who suffered persistent knee problems, finished second in this year’s Pan American Championships on 292kg and made a big improvement here despite failing with his final two attempts at 170kg.

Eko Yuli Irawan (INA)

Eko Yuli Irawan from Indonesia, who failed in his attempt to become the first weightlifter to win medals at five Olympic Games when he bombed out in Paris, made his first total in 15 months.

Irawan, back for more at the age of 35, started low and looked happy after making 131-161-292 in the B Group. After making a total in 36 successive international competitions spanning 17 years, that Paris disappointment was the fourth straight clean and jerk bombout for Irawan, who had been suffering with knee and thigh injuries.

Kang Hyon Gyong, who has set seven world records at 55kg since PRK returned to the international stage 15 months ago, went for an eighth with her final attempt on 132kg but failed. She was 15kg clear regardless, finishing 100-126-226 and making it four wins in two days for her team.

Kang Hyon Gyong (PRK)

Last year’s winner, Chen Guan-Ling from Chinese Taipei, was second on 93-118-211 and European champion Grigoryan third on 85-120-205, a career-best by 9kg. Zhang Haiqin from China, making her international debut, was second in snatch but failed with all three junior world record attempts at 122kg in clean and jerk.

Garance Rigaud from France was fourth on 91-110-201, just ahead of the B Group lifter Onome Didih from Nigeria, who made a big impression despite making only two good lifts.

“This was my first international competition, I enjoyed it,” said Didih after her 90-110-200, which was better than four A Group athletes. “My next one should be the Commonwealth Championships in India in August.”

Onome Didih (NGR)

Given that Didih, 20, finished ahead of athletes from five Commonwealth nations – India, Canada, Australia, Ghana and Malta – she already looks a likely medal contender for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, especially if she opts for the new 53kg category.

Didih was within 1kg of the African clean and jerk record when she made her final lift at 115kg, but she lost it on jury review for bending and extending.

By Brian Oliver

Photos by DBM/Deepbluemedia