South Korean weightlifting ended the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games with a victory, avoiding the ‘no gold’ disgrace.

Two Korean flags were raised at the Xiaoshan Sports Center in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, on Sunday, the last day of the weightlifting competition.

Park Hye-jung (Goyang City Hall), who competed in the women’s 87kg and above weightlifting event, won with a lift of 125kg, a snatch of 169kg and a total of 294kg, while Son Young-hee finished second with a lift of 124kg, a snatch of 159kg and a total of 283kg.

The pair drew a ball heart at the awards ceremony.

It has been 13 years since a South Korean athlete won an Asian Games weightlifting event, with Jang Jang-ran (now Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism) winning gold in the women’s heavyweight category (then known as 75 kilograms or more) in Guangzhou in 2010.

With the reigning champion Li Wenyuan (23-China) out with an injury, Park Hye-jung emerged as the favorite and, as expected, lifted the heaviest barbell.

Son Young-hee battled Park Hye-jung to the end to take the silver medal.

It was the first time for a Korean weightlifter to finish first or second on the Asian Games podium in the women’s category and the first time in 33 years for both men and women since Kim Byung-chan (gold) and Lee Hyung-geun (silver) in the men’s 90 kg and Kim Tae-hyun (gold) and Jeon Sang-seok (silver) in the men’s 110 kg at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games.

In the final event of the tournament, Lee Ji-sang (Gyeongnam Provincial Office) finished fourth in the men’s heaviest category (over 109 kilograms) with a lift of 177 kilograms, a snatch of 223 kilograms and a total of 400 kilograms.

Earlier in the day, Yoon Ha-je (Gimhae City Hall) finished second and Jung Aram (Incheon City Hall) third in the women’s 87kg category, giving Korean weightlifting two medals.

Lee Sang-yeon (Suwon City Hall) won bronze in the men’s 67 kg and Kim Soo-hyun (Busan City Sports Association) in the women’s 76 kg.

South Korean weightlifting hasn’t won a gold medal since Incheon 2014 (1 silver, 1 bronze) and Jakarta-Palembang 2018 (3 silver, 2 bronze). In 2018, no gold was enough to add insult to injury, despite the absence of China, the strongest country in weightlifting.

This time around, Hangzhou ended on a high note, with Park Hye-jung winning gold on the final day of competition.

However, North Korea was the star of the show in weightlifting at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

North Korea, which returned to the international stage four years after the 2019 World Championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic and IOC sanctions, won 13 medals – six gold, five silver, and two bronze – to outperform China (five gold, three silver, and one bronze). 안전놀이터