Yang Lian of China made her successful debut at the World Weightlifting Championships as she smashed all three world records in the women's 48kg category with ease here on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Yang took the limelight in the 48kg class as she was always the last one to lift both in the snatch and jerk.

"I came here not just for the gold medal, but also for breaking the world record," Yang told Xinhua.

Yang, the national champion last year, lifted 98kg in the snatch, rewrote Turkish Nurcan Taylan's world record of 97kg set in the Athens Olympic Games.

Yang continued her momentum in the jerk as she hoisted 119kg tobreak the former jerk record by 1kg, thus also created a new world record of total at 217kg, 4kg more than Chinese Wang Mingjuan set in the worlds last year.

The 26-year-old Wiratthaworn Aree of Thailand settled for the silver at 188kg and Hiromi Miyake of Japan placed third with the same weight due to the body weight disadvantage.

"The result was not beyond my expectation. I knew she would break the world record, and we really worked hard on it," Yang's coach Chen Yijie said after the match.

"Breaking world record gives me a satisfaction of fulfillment. I think I have the potential to break more record in the future," Yang said at the press conference.

"There is no end for me to smash world record, but what I want most is the gold medal in the Bejing Olympic Games."

Yang's compatriot Qiu Le won the men's 62kg category by hefting a total of 308kg to claim his second gold medal in a row in the worlds.

The 23-year-old Qiu, gold medalist in the worlds in Doha, sustained his momentum to hoisted a total of 308kg, but the resultin total is 14kg less than his own in Doha.

Oscar Figueroa of Columbia had to settle for the silver medal at 297kg and his compatriot Diego Fernando Salazarand took the bronze at 295kg.

"I am not satisfied with the result. I felt quite tired when waiting for my turn on the platform, and my strength had gone away gradually," Qiu told Xinhua after the competition.

"The weather here is so different from Beijing. The heat and humidity really made me tired," he added.
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(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2006)