CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Sept. 25(Xinhua) -- Russia's Natalia Zabolotnaya broke the world record in the snatch in the women's 75kg category but China's Cao Lei took the upper hand in the jerk to defend her title for the total at the weightlifting championships here on Tuesday.

Zabolotnaya sailed through three good snatches, and hoisted 131kg on her last attempt, 1 kilo over her own world record.

"I came here for the gold medal of course. Breaking world records was also in my plan," Zabolotnaia said.

"I didn't perform well in the jerk, otherwise I could win the gold medal of the total," she added.

Cao combined lifts of 128kg in the snatch with 158kg in the clean and jerk to finish with 286kg, equivalent to the total that she had at last year's world championships.

Zabolotnaya, 22, grabbed silver on 281kg and her compatriot Nadezda Evstyukhina bronze 278kg.

Having secured the gold medal, Cao attempted to lift 160kg, which would have been good for a world record in the jerk and total, but after looking like she had racked the bar she dumped it.

"I just did what I usually did in the training. I am quite confident about myself," Cao told reporters.

Later in the day, Andrei Aramnau of Belarus snared gold in the men's 105kg.

The 19-year-old lifter, the reigning world junior champion, combined lifts of 195kg in the snatch with 228kg in the clean and jerk to finish with 423kg.

Alan Tsagaev of Bulgaria took silver on 411kg, edging Dmitriy Klokov of Russia to third place on weight difference.