Ismailia, Day 4: World records on a big day for Egypt and China – and B Group medals for Albania

Host nation Egypt had its first champion of the week, China won again and athletes from both nations claimed world records at the IWF World Junior Championships in Ismailia.

Albania was on the podium from the B Group in a high-quality women’s 69kg session in which Lin Jingwei set world records in clean and jerk and total. Lin was one of four lifters who set continental junior records.

Hussein Metwally Abdelrahman (EGY)

Egypt had two heroes in the men’s 79kg. Hussein Metwally Abdelrahman was a world champion for the third straight year, having won twice as a Youth at 67kg and 73kg. Up in weight and well prepared, he put 35kg on his previous best international total in making 153-188-341.

Ali Abdelradi, third in snatch and fifth on total, earned huge cheers when he made 182kg on his second clean and jerk to complete a sweep of youth world records. Abdelradi, 17, then cleaned 187kg but could not complete the lift and finished 151-182-333, which was 6kg higher than the world standard.

His only previous international competition was the Qatar Cup in December, a non-IWF event this time.

Narek Mkrtchyan (ARM)

Narek Mkrtchyan from Armenia was second on 150-186-336 and Didarbek Jumabayev from Turkmenistan third on 148-187-335. Bobumirzo Yokubov from Uzbekistan took snatch silver on 152kg before dropping to sixth overall.

Lin became China’s sixth winner when she made all six lifts for 107-138-245. Like last year, when she was Youth world champion at 71kg, she set two world records with her final attempt.

“I had never even tried 138 before,” said Lin, who started weightlifting at primary school aged eight. “My performance was better than I expected. My next ambition is to perform well in my first senior World Championships (in China) later this year.”

Lin Jingwei (CHN)

Claudia Rengifo from Venezuela – a Youth world champion in 2024 – won snatch gold in making an impressive 108-131-239 in second place.  She took the Pan American junior record in clean and jerk and would have had the record on total, too, if she had not failed with her final attempt on 134kg.

Rengifo competed 12 times in less than three years after her international debut in 2022, but today she was on the platform for the first time in more than a year. She made her best total by 10kg, and was down 2kg in weight category.

There was another encouraging performance from the bronze medallist Enkileda Carja from Albania, who lifted in the B Group. She set a European junior record on total in making 104-125-229, a 3kg improvement on her effort at the senior European Championships last month, when she also opted for the B Group.

“I was in the B Group because a few weeks ago I wasn’t in the best emotional shape, and I knew I would have a better chance to control my emotions in the competition if I was in B,” said Carja, who like the other two medallists on total is 18.

The women’s 69kg podium

“I’m very happy with my achievements, which are the result of a lot of hard training. I train in Tirana and I am in my third year of high school, plus I have a part-time job. Every training session is exciting for me.

“In the rest of this year I want to compete at the European Juniors, the Mediterranean Games and then the senior World Championships for the first time.”

Carja, Youth world champion at 64kg last year, won bronze in clean and jerk and total. She would have had a sweep of third-place finishes but for a remarkable effort by Tugba Nur Koz from Turkiye.

Koz, 19, made a 10kg jump to 105kg for her third snatch attempt after failing at 100kg. She had to fight hard to keep control of the bar but did it for a junior European record and finished fourth on total on 224kg. 

By Brian Oliver

Photos by Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia