Taiwanese weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳, center) / Photo courtesy of Lin Ching-neng (林敬能)

Taipei, April 23 (CNA) Taiwanese weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) broke three world records, winning three gold medals Tuesday at the 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships (AWC) in China's eastern coastal city of Ningbo, which doubles as a qualifying competition for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Kuo won a gold medal with a snatch lift of 106kg in the women's 59kg division, breaking the world record of 105kg she set at last year's AWC tournament.

She then clinched a second gold with a clean and jerk of 137kg, breaking the record of 136kg set by Chen Guiming (陳桂明) from China last year, with a final gold for the combined lift of 243kg, which broke her own world record of 237kg also set last year.

This is the third time Kuo has clinched three golds at the AWC tournament, having done so in 2013 and in 2017, for a grand total of 11 gold medals at the event.

The AWC tournament is the most prestigious event on the Asian weightlifting calendar. It is also a gold-tier Olympic qualifying event, providing athletes with bonus points.

Over 460 athletes from 29 countries and regions, including China, Japan, South Korea, India and Iran are participating at the competition which started April 17 and will last until April 29.

(By Lung Po-an and Evelyn Kao)
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