New hope for Thai women weightlifting

BANGKOK, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Although two Athens Games' golden medal winners have retired, Thailand's talented Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon is preparing hard to become the heir as she tries to fulfill her dream of capturing gold in Beijing.

Prapawadee has had a stellar career so far, winning three gold medals at the World University Weightlifting Championships in Izmir, Turkey, in 2005 before clinching a silver medal at the Doha Asian Games.

She also produced a stunning performance in the 53kg division at the national championships last May. There, the 24-year-old from Nakhon Sawan bettered Chinese Li Ping's world clean-and-jerk record of 129kg with a lift of 130kg.

She also bettered Chinese Qiu Hongxia's world overall total record of 226kg with a mark of 227kg. She recently bettered that record with a lift of 235kg, the Daily Xpress newspaper said on Friday.

However, she is not guaranteed to clinch gold in Beijing. While she is making rapid progress, strong rivals from other countries are also expected to provide tough challenges.

At last year's Royal World Weightlifting Championships in Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai, Prapawadee and Li produced a hard-fought duel in the 53kg event which saw both snatch a weight of 93kg.

However, the local lifter failed miserably while attempting to lift the weights in the clean and jerk. She sustained a severe injury and was stretched out of the venue. She pulled out of competitions and training stints for more than three months.

"I heard a lot about Prapawadee's tireless dedication during her training. I think she stands a 50 percent chance of winning gold," said Udomporn Polsak, who won the country's first-ever Olympic weightlifting gold in Athens.

"However, to increase her winning chances, she must keep her emotions in check. She should concentrate well to overcome the pressure while lifting. If she can do that, the gold can be within her reach," she added.

If host China decides to field their lifters in the category, it is possible that either 2007 world champion Li or 2006 champion Qiu Hongxia will join the fray.

Apart from the duo, Belarusian Nastassia Novikava, silver medallist at last year's world meet, Hong Kong's Yu Weili, bronze winner in the meet, Indonesian Lisa Rumbe-was, silver medallist in the 2006 world meet, and Kazakhstan's Svetlana Cheremshanova are also likely to mount a strong challenge against Prapawadee, she said.