Ashgabat: Irani Weightlifter, Sohrab Moradi, has set a new world record in 94-kilogram group to win the title at Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games underway in Turkmenistan.
Competing in the fifth edition of the Asian sportive extravaganza, Moradi managed to lift a total of 413 kilograms breaking record of Georgian-Greek athlete Kakhi Kakhiashvili who had kept the previous record of 412 for 18 years.
Moradi lifted 176 kilograms above his head in his first snatch attempt though he was fighting a neck-on-neck competition with Farkhodbek Sobirov of Uzbekistan. He later overcome 181 and 185 kilograms in the snatch category.
Iran’s Moradi, who settled for gold in the same weight division of 2016 Rio Olympics, recorded a score of 228 kilograms in the clean and jerk contest. Liu Hao of China stood on the third podium falling an aggregate total of 26 kilograms short of the Iranian sportsman. The fifth edition of 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games opened in the Turkmen capital city of Ashgabat on September 17, and will finish on September 27.
Turkmenistan is on the top of the medal count table with 193 medals (77 gold, 54 silvers and 62 bronzes). The Islamic Republic of Iran has claimed the second spot with 77 medals (19 gold, 15 silvers, 43 bronzes), while Uzbekistan is on the third with a total of 89 medals (16 gold, 26 silvers and 47 bronzes). Thailand, China, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan have earned the 4th to 10th places respectively.
