Chinese weightlifters cautious at gold rush in London

JI'NAN, China - Though bettering world records at the domestic Olympic qualifier, Chinese weightlifting officials kept a low key when talking about gold medal expectations at the London Olympics.

Two lifters surpassed three worlds records at the ongoing National Women's Weightlifting Championships here as they showed great power in the women's 48kg and 53kg categories, which were most possible choices for the Chinese team when considering to participate in London.

Tian Yuan, world champion last year in Paris, stole the spotlight in the women's 48kg category on Monday as the 19-year-old jerked 126kg to finish her show in a total of 221kg, bettering both the world records in jerk by five kilos and the total by four kilos.

"I become more confident now, which will help me to get ready to London," said Tian, who lifted a total of 207kg in the Paris Worlds.

"We all want to compete in London, so we have to lift more to get the chance. That's why I tried my best in the National Championships," she added.

In the 53kg category, Ji Jing, bronze medalist in the worlds last year, made a good start when she lifted 104kg in the snatch, one kilos more than the current snatch world record set by her compatriot Li Ping, who was absent because of injury.

Li Xueying, silver medalist in the worlds in the 58kg category, beat her arch-rival Deng Wei to hoist a total of ?250kg on Tuesday, just one kilo less than the world record set by Chen Yanqing in 2006.

The National Women's Weightlifting Championships was served as an important Olympic qualifier as the Chinese Weightlifting Association president Ma Wenguang told the press that the champions here would have the chance to go to London.

Chinese women's weightlifting team has taken all the four Olympic tickets on offer and they will choose four categories from all the seven categories to participate at the Olympics.

"I'm very happy to see these good results but it's too early to say we are fully confident to claim gold medals in these categories," said Ma.

"Our main opponents are from Turkey, so we will focus on their performance at the European Weightlifting Championships," he added.

"We do have advantage in the light categories such as 48kg and 53kg, but there are not enough top lifters in each categories. If we have two or three in every divisions, I will be more satisfied."

Chinese women's team took four gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 48kg, 58kg, 69kg and 75kg categories. Ma said it was still a hard decision for him to choose four categories from seven, and the results here will become a key standard.

"I don't think too much when I am training or competing, but I do want to go to London," said Li Xueying.

"I have become stronger both mentally and physically and I think I will do better at the Olympics," she added.