Thach Kim Tuan easily won gold medal in his favourite 56kg category of the National Weightlifting Championships yesterday.

Tuan, the gold medalist at the Youth Olympic Games at Singapore last year, won the snatch category at 121kg and came in first in the clean-and-jerk at 146kg to take gold with the total weight of 267kg.

However, this is not the best result of Tuan, who set a new world youth record of 277kg, early this month. He was awarded the Labour Order, Third Class for his recent outstanding achievements.

Khanh Hoa Province-born weightlifter, 17, is also Viet Nam's major hope of winning gold medals at the Southeast Asia (SEA) Games to be held in Indonesia this November.

Weightlifter Le Quang Trung of Da Nang set a new record in the men's 62kg category as he cleaned and jerked a weight of 158kg, 1kg more than the former record.

Dao Thi Hong Chuyen of Hai Phong also won three gold medals in the women's 63kg category. She won the snatch at 90kg, the clean and jerk at 112kg with a total weight of 202kg.

Nguyen Thi Kim Hien and Ma Ro Na Sacly of Dac Lac took silver and bronze medals, respectively.

In the women's 58kg category, Nguyen Thi Y of Ha Noi won gold as she lifted a total weight of 168kg (snatch at 73kg, and clean and jerk at 95kg).

The competition, which helps prepare athletes for the Southeast Asia Games later this year, will finish tomorrow.

VNS