Turkmen athlete Maksat Meredov won three silver medals - in the snatch, clean and jerk and combined event - at the ongoing World Weightlifting Cup in Phuket (Thailand). A soldier of military unit № 3001 of the State Migration of Turkmenistan achieved this success in the non-Olympic weight category up to 81 kg, in which 8 athletes competed for awards.
In the first exercise, our athlete successfully used the first two attempts, lifting first 142 kg and then 146 kg. In the final approach, the barbell weighing 150 kg did not submit, as a result of which M. Meredov finished the first part of the competition in 2nd position, 18 kg behind the Asian champion, holder of two records in the snatch and combined event of the Asian Games, champion of the Asian Games in Hangzhou (China ) and the international Grand Prix tournament II in Doha (Qatar) Ri Jong Son (DPRK).
In the clean and jerk, Maksat also used two approaches, recording alternately 175 kg and 182 kg. As a result, in the combined event he gained 328 kg - 8 kg less than his best result shown in 2021 at the Asian Championships in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) in the Olympic weight category up to 73 kg, when two silver medals were won - in the clean and jerk (189 kg) and biathlon (336 kg).
Thus, in the final protocol, our compatriot was 13 kg ahead of the bronze medalist of the 2023 Grand Prix in Havana (Cuba), Samuel Guertin (Canada), who closed the top three, and 38 kg behind the winner Ri Jong Son (DPRK).
Maksat Meredov, who will turn 24 on June 23, is not the first time he has become a prize-winner at major competitions. In 2019, he won a bronze medal in the weight category up to 73 kg at the junior world championship, which was held in Suva (Republic of Fiji), and in 2021 he became the vice-champion of Asia in the same weight category at the tournament in Tashkent.
Turkmenistan at the 2024 World Cup, which is the final qualifying stage of the competition for the 2024 Summer Olympics, is represented by 11 athletes (9 men and 2 women).
Bektimur Reyimov and Bunyad Rashidov, who competed in the weight category up to 73 kg, took 11th and 14th places respectively among 41 athletes. Bektimur gained a total of 333 kg in two exercises (snatch - 153 kg, clean and jerk - 180 kg), and Bunyad - 325 kg (155+170).
Shatlyk Shohradov with a result of 357 kg (162+195) finished in 9th position in the weight category up to 89 kg among 36 athletes. In the same weight category, the bronze medalist of the 2024 Asian Championship in the weight up to 81 kg, Gaygysyz Torayev, did not cope with any weight in the snatch and ultimately completed the performance with a zero score. The same failure befell Seyitjan Mirzayev (up to 61 kg) in the snatch, and Kristina Shermetova (up to 59 kg) in the clean and jerk.
The World Weightlifting Cup will end in Phuket on April 11.
