FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Sukanya lifts Thailand’s second Rio gold, Pimsiri claims silver

Sukanya lifts Thailand’s second Rio gold, Pimsiri claims silver

Determined Sukanya Srisurat handed Thailand the second Rio Games gold medal when the 21-year-old weightlifter from Chon Buri set the Riocentro Pavilion 2 in Rio de Janeiro alight with her new Olympic snatch record.

The resounding success made Sukanya the fifth women’s weightlifter from Thailand to win the Olympic gold medal. Udomporn Polsak and Pawina Thongsuk became the first two Thais to claim the Olympic gold at the 2004 Athens Games. Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon won the third gold for the country at the 2008 Beijing Games, with the fourth gold coming from Sopita Tanasan, who lifted all Thai hearts the day before yesterday with her victory in the Rio Games.

Sukanya lifts Thailand’s second Rio gold, Pimsiri claims silver

Sukanya lifted 105kg in her first attempt in the snatch before increasing the weights to 108kg and she was still successful. In her third attempt, Sukanya made much of the impact when she lifted a new Olympic record of 110kg, erasing the old Olympic standard of 108kg established at the London Games four years ago by Chinese Li Xueying.

In the clean and jerk event, Sukanya, who captured two medals including one gold at the 2014 IWF World Championships in Kazakhstan and one bronze at the last year’s IWF World Championships in Houston, the USA, lifted 130kg in  her second attempt. She failed in her third effort of lifting 132kg.

Sukanya lifts Thailand’s second Rio gold, Pimsiri claims silver

Nevertheless, with the combined lifts of 240kg, Sukanya was clear favourite to snatch the gold medal, the Thailand’s second at the Rio Game.

Meanwhile, Thailand won additional silver medal from Pimsiri Sirikaew, who picked up silver Olympic medal two times in a row on Tuesday morning.

Pimsiri, 26, who hails in Khon Kaen, lifted an aggregate 232kg in the Olympic Total to claim silver. Lifting 102kg in the snatch, she made her mark to lift 130kg in her second attempt in the clean and jerk, the similar performance as Sukanya. As Sukanya failed in lifting 132kg in her third attempt, Pimsiri, who took silver in London with the total lifts of 236kg, denied to lift in her third attempt.

The bronze medal went to Taiwan’s Kuo Hsing-Chun, bronze medallist at the last year’s IWF World Championships in Houston and winner at the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan this April. For winning bronze in Rio, Kuo lifted an aggregate 231kg.

Winning gold medal in the Rio Games, Sukanya has been guaranteed of claiming Bt10-million cash incentives from the National Sports Development Fund, while Bt6 million cash will go to silver medallist Pimsiri. Generous sponsors and private sectors are expected to offer a large sum of cash incentives to Sukanya and Pimsiri upon their return to Thailand.

 

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