President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文, right) and Kuo Hsing-chun

Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) Weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) was awarded the Order of Brilliant Star on Thursday in recognition of her performance at the 2017 Taipei Universiade, at which she broke the world record in the clean and jerk event.

The Order of Brilliant Star, which honors outstanding contributions to national development, was conferred on Kuo by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

At the ceremony, Kuo said the decoration was the highest honor and an acknowledgment of her performance in the sports arena.

She promised to help bring unity to Taiwan society and lift the country's international profile through sports.

At the Universiade on Aug. 21, Kuo took the lead in the women's 58 kg weightlifting competition with a snatch of 107 kilograms then nailed a clean and jerk of 142 kg on her final lift of the night to break the world record of 141 kg set by Qiu Hongmei (邱紅梅) of China at the 2007 Asian Weightlifting Championships.

(By Sophia Yeh and Y.F. Low)
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