Weightlifter Tran Minh Tri's unexpected gold medal

In the men's 67 kg weight class, Tran Minh Tri competed with athletes from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and host Cambodia. Minh Tri (born in 2004) is the youngest weightlifter among the 6 athletes competing in this weight class.

Minh Tri competed brilliantly in the last push to win the gold medal. Photo: Ngoc Duong

Before the competition, Minh Tri was not rated as highly as his opponents, especially Witsanu Chantri (Thailand) and Mohammad Yasin (Indonesia). In fact, after the snatch competition, Minh Tri only ranked 4th with a weight of 130 kg, 7 kg behind the two leading athletes, Witsanu Chantri and Mohammad Yasin (both with 137 kg). With such a gap, not many people thought that Vietnamese weightlifters would make a difference in the clean and jerk competition.

Minh Tri successfully started the clean and jerk competition with 162 kg, while Witsanu Chantri and Mohammad Yasin reached 163 kg and 162 kg respectively. In the second push, Minh Tri and Witsanu Chantri both reached 168 kg, while Mohammad Yasin reached 166 kg. In the decisive third push, Witsanu Chantri and Mohammad Yasin were both unsuccessful with their registered weights, the total weights of these two weightlifters were 305 kg and 304 kg respectively.

At this time, after completing the second push, Minh Tri's total lift was only 298 kg. If he wanted to win the gold medal, the Vietnamese weightlifter had to increase the weight in the third push to 176 kg, 8 kg more than the second push. With effort and determination, Minh Tri successfully conquered the weight of 176 kg in the last push. After pushing the weight of 176 kg, Minh Tri knelt down and bowed his head to the floor. He had cramps and had to ask his coach for help.

With the success of the third push of 176 kg, Minh Tri achieved a total lift of 306 kg, 1 kg more than Witsanu Chantri, thereby winning the gold medal. Along with that, Minh Tri also broke the SEA Games record in the clean and jerk event with 176 kg (the old record was 173 kg).

Minh Tri's gold medal is also the second gold medal of Vietnamese weightlifting at the 32nd SEA Games after Lai Gai Thanh in the men's 55 kg category. Minh Tri is only 19 years old, the future ahead is very bright. The 32nd SEA Games gold medal is certainly a great motivation for this weightlifter to train and compete better in the future.

Thai An

Source: http://www.baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/artmid/422/articleid/64381/tam-hcv-bat-ngo-cua-do-cu-tran-minh-tri