23-year-old master of sports Davranbek Khasanbaev from Turkmenistan won a gold medal in snatch at the World Cup in Weightlifting held in Phuket, Thailand. This success was achieved by the 5th year student of the Turkmen State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport in the weight category up to 102 kg, where 40 athletes competed for medals and qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Davranbek successfully completed all three attempts in snatch, lifting 180 kg, 185 kg and 187 kg consecutively. As a result, after the first exercise, our athlete was in first place, leading by 1 kg ahead of 28-year-old Lesman Paredes Montano from Bahrain and by 2 kg ahead of 20-year-old three-time junior world champion Garik Karapetyan from Armenia.
In the clean and jerk, D. Khasanbaev achieved the fourteenth result (205 kg). As a result, our compatriot finished in the total of the two events in 5th place (392 kg), trailing by 8 kg behind the 2019 world champion and two-time European champion Evgeny Tikhontsov from Belarus, who became the bronze medalist with a result of 400 kg (183+217), competing under the flag of the International Weightlifting Federation. The silver went to Garik Karapetyan (Armenia) - 401 kg (185+216). And the gold was awarded to Liu Huanhua (China) - 413 kg (181+232), the world champion of 2023, bronze medalist of the 2022 World Championships, and champion of Asia in 2023, who set two world records in the clean and jerk and total.
Commenting on the results of the competition in the weight category up to 102 kg, the press service of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) emphasizes that "Khasanbaev made the biggest change in the ranking in the World Cup that ended on Thursday".
"He was punching the air, shouting, and kissing the barbell," says the IWF material about the performance of the Turkmen weightlifter, after Davranbek improved his positions in the world ranking by 18 points, making an extraordinary jump from 26th to 8th place. By entering the top 10 best weightlifters in the weight category up to 102 kg, D. Khasanbaev earned a qualification for the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games, which will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024, in Paris.
"It's a great feeling not only for me but for everyone in the team," said Davranbek Khasanbaev in an interview with the IWF.
Davranbek's current success is remarkable because few specialists believed that he would be able to win an Olympic license before the start of the 2024 World Cup. Perhaps that's why our national team's coaches placed D. Khasanbaev in the weaker Group B, focusing primarily on Shahzadbek Matyakubov, who competed in the stronger Group A.
As events unfolded, Shahzadbek showed the eighth result in the snatch (176 kg) and the ninth result in the clean and jerk (210 kg), finishing in eighth place in the total (386 kg). On the other hand, Davranbek, demonstrating iron will and resilience, surpassed his best result by 19 kg, which he achieved at the 2023 World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he finished in 18th place with a total of 373 kg (snatch - 178 kg, clean and jerk - 195 kg).
Davranbek's qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games was also greatly aided by the fact that 15 out of the 40 athletes registered in the 102 kg weight category did not compete or failed to lift any weight in the snatch or clean and jerk, resulting in a zero score.
After the award ceremony, Davranbek praised his coaches for their strategy that allowed him to surpass his best result by 19 kg. He also admitted that during the preparation for the final pre-Olympic World Cup qualifier, he trained very diligently, without any breaks, adhering to a strict daily schedule.
"God willing, now I can win a medal in Paris if I continue to train as I have for the past two months," Davranbek summed up his performance at the World Cup in Phuket.
Davranbek Khasanbaev started weightlifting in Dashoguz velayat and is currently honing his skills under the guidance of Mansur Rejepov, the head coach of the Turkmenistan national team.
Davranbek has intense months of further training, during which he will need to work seriously on the second exercise in weightlifting - the clean and jerk - in order to win an Olympic medal.
The final Olympic qualification ranking of athletes will be published by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) on May 24.
Meanwhile, the last Olympic licenses for women and men will be contested in the final day of the World Cup in Thailand.
In the women's 81 kg weight category, the last representative of our team Anamjan Rustamova finished in 10th place in the snatch (110 kg), 16th place in the clean and jerk (130 kg), and took 11th place in the total (240 kg) among 34 weightlifters.
On the final day of the 2024 World Cup, Khojamukhammet Toychiev will compete as a member of the Turkmenistan national team in the weight category over 109 kg.
