Indonesian lifter pockets silver

Indonesian weightlifter Sinta Darmariani added one more silver medal for Indonesia in the Asian Games after finishing second in the women’s 69-kilogram category at the Dongguan Gymnasium on Wednesday, breaking her own national record in the clean and jerk.

Competing in Dongguan, the hometown of Chen Jing Kai, the first Chinese athlete ever to break a world record in 1956, Sinta managed to lift 101 kilograms in the snatch and 137 kilograms in the clean and jerk for a total of 238 kilograms.

Shinta, the 2006 Asian Games bronze medalist in the women’s 75-kilogram category, lifted five kilograms more than gold medalist Chunhong Liu of China in the clean and jerk, but was nine kilograms short in the snatch.

Rounding out third place was Ya Jhen Wang of Taiwan who managed to lift 100 kilograms in the snatch and 133 kilograms in the clean and jerk for a total of 233 kilograms.

“It’s a miracle for us because if we look at her opponents’ records, our best projection was a
fourth-place finish. But in the morning we prayed together and I told Sinta that nothing was impossible in God’s hands,” weightlifting manager Sony Kasiran told The Jakarta Post via telephone from Dongguan, some 59 kilometers south of Guangzhou.

“Shinta had her timing perfected in the clean and jerk.”

Despite only taking home silver, Shinta broke her own national record of 132 kilograms in the clean and jerk.

Sony said if his lifters had longer to prepare for the Games, they would have pulled off a stronger showing.

“We hope that this time we will not hold the national training camp so late. At the previous Asian Games, we had 11 months to prepare, but only seven this time around,” he said.

Indonesia has collected one silver and three bronze medals from weightlifting alone, adding to its one silver and five bronzes from other sports.