Olympic champion Lu Yong too good for rivals at Chinese National Games

JINAN, East China, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Olympic weightlifting champion Lu Yong was too good for his rivals as he enjoyed a much easier time winning the gold medal in the men's 85kg at the Chinese National Games Monday.

Avoiding to compete against Lu, Lu's major rivals Jiang Hairong and Yuan Aijun upgraded to the heavier 94kg division but were unable to hit stride, losing to surprise package He Shuyong, representing the host Shandong.

Lu, the Beijing Olympic champion, lowered the weight of first attempts in the snatch by eight kilos and jerk by 12 kilos as he was confident to snatch the gold.

Lu lifted a total of 376 kg -- 173 in snatching and 203 in jerk -- which were 16 kilos more than the silver medalist Song Jiawen of Guangdong.

"I love Jinan. I won my first gold medal in the National Championships in 2004 here, and today I won again," Lu said.

"The result is not good enough though. I wanted to secure the gold, so I gave up the heavier weight," he added.

The 23-year-old Lu made a successful debut in the Beijing Olympic last year, beating veteran Andrei Rybakou of Belarus by body weight advantage with 394kg, 18 kilos more than his result in Jinan.

Later in the day, He, silver medalist in the men's 85kg division at the national championships in 2008, jerked 217kg with a total of392kg to overcome the 29-year-old Jiang, Asian champion in 2007 in the 85kg division, by one kilo.

"It was too difficult to win today. I injured my elbow during the competition. I'm too lucky today," said He.

Yuan, 32, winner in the last three National Games in the 85kg division, announced his retirement after collecting a bronze at 386kg.

"It's time to leave the weightlifting. This platform belongs to the young lifters now. The bronze medal also brought me a good ending to my career," said Yuan.

His result of 392kg was 14 kilos short of the winning result lifted by Ilya Ilin of Kazakhstan in the Beijing Olympics.