Vietnam won the world junior snatch championship.

On April 4, weightlifter Le Nguyen Quoc Bao won a gold medal in snatch, a bronze medal in clean and jerk and a silver medal in total in the men's 50 kg weight class at the 2017 World Youth Weightlifting Championships held in Thailand.

Weightlifter Quoc Bao (left) and coach Huynh Huu Chi of the Vietnamese youth weightlifting team. Photo: DK

Quoc Bao is the reigning Asian youth champion in his weight category. The 17-year-old athlete from Ho Chi Minh City had a very good start in the snatch event with a score of 96 kg on his second attempt. That also ensured Quoc Bao the gold medal in this event because the best performer among his opponents, Chomchuen Natthawat (Thailand), only managed to snatch 94 kg. Unfortunately, Quoc Bao was unsuccessful in his third attempt with a score of 103 kg.

Entering the clean and jerk, Quoc Bao was very confident and succeeded with a 119 kg barbell on the second attempt. However, Quoc Bao was unsuccessful when he decided to lift the barbell to 124 kg on the last attempt. Quoc Bao's failure opened up a great opportunity for Thai athlete Chomchuen Teerapat. Chomchuen Teerapat only ranked 4th in the snatch with a score of 91 kg, 5 kg behind Quoc Bao.

So, Chomchuen Teerapat focused his efforts on the final push with 125 kg. And Chomchuen Teerapat succeeded in winning the clean and jerk gold medal, pushing Quoc Bao down to 3rd place in the clean and jerk event. At the same time, Chomchuen Teerapat also rose to win the total gold medal with a total score of 216 kg. Quoc Bao won the total silver medal with 215 kg, only 1 kg less than Chomchuen Teerapat.

According to TTO