Hunan Daily New Hunan client reporter Chen Puzhuang
"Hou Zhihui, Chen Lijun and Luo Shifang will attack the world champion in the women's 49kg, men's 67kg and women's 59kg respectively!" On September 4, He Guo, the director of the Hunan Weightlifting Sports Management Center, was full of confidence in the three Hunan athletes who will compete in the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships in an interview with the Hunan Daily all-media reporter.
That evening, the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships opened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
According to the qualification system for the Paris Olympic Games, registering for the World Championships is a prerequisite for participating in the Paris Olympic Games. As the three key athletes of the national team preparing for next year's Paris Olympic Games, Hunan Olympic champions Hou Zhihui and Chen Lijun, and Luo Shifang, the new champion of the National Games, all played for the country.
Hou Zhihui (Hunan Daily data map)
Among them, Hou Zhihui will join hands with teammate Jiang Huihua in the women's 49kg category, striving to achieve good results in the snatch, jerk and overall results. The match will start at 21:30 Beijing time on September 5, which is also the first level for the Chinese team to compete in this World Championships.
Luo Shifang (Hunan Daily Data Map)
Luo Shifang will form a "double insurance" in the women's 59kg category with teammate Pei Xinyi, and the match between the two will start at 0:00 am Beijing time on September 9. The number one opponent of the Chinese women's team in this division is Guo Wanchun of the Chinese Taipei women's team, who has won the division twice in a row.
Chen Lijun (Hunan Daily data map)
The situation of the men's 67kg champion Chen Lijun at the Tokyo Olympics is slightly special. Due to the adjustment of the men's weightlifting class at the Paris Olympics, the 67kg category became a non-Olympic class, and in the past two years, Chen Lijun has been preparing for the men's 61kg category. But this year's World Championships, Chen Lijun chose to participate in the men's 67kg category, and is determined to prove his strength again at the World Championships. Chen Lijun's match will start at 0:00 am on September 8.
Li Fabin, another Olympic champion who has been preparing for the men's 61kg category with Chen Lijun, will compete in the 61kg category of the World Championships.
Will participating in the non-Olympic level affect the prospects of Chen Lijun competing for Olympic qualification? He Guo explained that the Paris Olympic qualification system stipulates that athletes participating in the Paris Olympics must participate in this year's World Championships and next year's World Cup, but there are no specific requirements for rank, so Chen Lijun's participation in the 67kg category meets the requirements of the qualification system. In fact, Chen Lijun's daily training weight is about 70 kg, and participating in the 67kg class at the World Championships instead of reducing his weight to participate in the 61kg class is conducive to the continuity of training and preparation. In addition, next April's World Cup, the weight of points will be higher than that of this World Championship, when athletes of all levels will face a decisive battle.
The weightlifting event at the Paris Olympics will feature five classes for men and five women, with a maximum of three classes for each Olympic Committee and only one athlete in each category.
Weightlifting World Championships Chinese Team Schedule (Beijing time)
September 5, 21:30 Women's 49kg Group A Hou Zhihui, Jiang Huihua
6 September, 16:30 Men's 61kg Group B Ding Hongjie
6 Sep 21:30 Men's 61kg Group A Li Fabin
Sep. 8, 00:00 Men's 67kg Group A Chen Lijun, He Yueji
September 9, 00:00 Women's 59kg Group A Luo Shifang, Pei Xinyi
10 Sep 00:00 Men's 73 kg Group A Wei Yinting
10 Sep 19:00 Men's 81kg Group C Shi Zhiyong
Sep 12, 00:00 Men's 89kg Group A Li Dayin, Tian Tao
13 Sep 16:30 Women's 71kg Group B Zeng Tiantian
14 Sep 00:00 Women's 71kg Group A Liao Guifang
15 Sep 00:00 Men's 102kg Group A Liu Huanhua
September 15, 21:30 Women's 81kg Group A Wang Zhouyu, Liang Xiaomei
September 16, 21:30 Women's Group A over 87 kg Li Wenwen
(The bold text in the above table is the number of Hunan athletes who have appeared in the battlefield)