PHOTO ESSAYS/High hope for Taiwanese weightlifters at Rio Games

The Taiwanese weightlifting team, which performed the best of any of Taiwan's athletes at the London Games in 2012, is expected to make a strong showing in Rio de Janeiro this summer.

Headed by Olympic medalist Hsu Shu-ching (許淑淨), who won Taiwan's only silver medal in London in the women's under 53 kilogram event, the team will be composed of four female and three male weightlifters.

On the women's side, Hsu will be joined by 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships gold medalist Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳), who will compete in the under 58 kg division.

Also, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Chen Wei-ling (陳葦綾) will compete in the under 48 kg division and 2014 Asian Games gold medalist Lin Tzu-chi (林子琦) will vie for a medal in the under 63 kg event.

Two-time Asian Weightlifting Championships gold medalist Chen Shih-chieh (陳士杰), who carried the flag for the Taiwanese team at the opening ceremony of the London Games, will compete in the men's over 105 kg event.

The two other male weightlifters are Tang Chi-chung (唐啟中) in the under 56 kg division and Pan Chien-hung (潘建宏) in the under 69 kg group.

(By Lee Chin-wei and Kay Liu)enditem/ls