Eko Yuli Irawan yesterday declared he was a “proud Indonesian” after winning the hosts’ first weightlifting gold of the Asian Games in front of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
Irawan, 29, has won multiple major medals in a senior weightlifting career stretching back to his bronze at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, but had never before set foot on the top step of the podium.
“I’m a proud Indonesian and pleased for the country to win gold,” Irawan told reporters after receiving his medal from Widodo. “I feel like everything I have fought for I have now finally achieved.”
Irawan’s almost flawless performance of strength and control was capped by a 170kg lift in the clean and jerk that raised the roof at the Jakarta International Expo.
To screams from his adoring home fans, Irawan saluted the country’s president seated in front of him, broke into a huge smile and flashed a thumbs-up to the packed 2,000-capacity venue after setting a winning total of 311kg.
Vietnam’s Trinh Van Vinh needed a mammoth personal best of 179kg with the final lift of the competition to snatch gold, but he crumpled in the attempt.
Finally Irawan could savor the golden moment that had always eluded him, after Olympic bronzes at Beijing in 2008 and the 2012 London Olympics, silver at Rio two years ago and Asian Games bronzes in 2010 and 2014.
Widodo presented Irawan with his medal before he saluted again throughout his country’s anthem and flag-raising.
Trinh consoled himself with silver, while the bronze went to Uzbekistan’s Adkhamjon Ergashev.
The absence of China and Kazakhstan, who are on year-long International Weightlifting Federation bans for multiple historic doping offenses, meant North Korea dominated the first day of weightlifting on Monday.
They took both golds in the lightest men’s and women’s weight classes with pint-sized weightlifters Ri Song-gum in the women’s 48kg class and Om Yun-chol in the men’s 56kg.
However, Irawan ensured there would be no North Korea hat-trick as the weightlifting competition resumed yesterday.
He began in dominant fashion with 141kg in the snatch, good enough for a 5kg cushion over Ergashev and 8kg over Trinh.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s Sin Chol-bom, who had been expected to challenge Irawan, was struggling back on 130kg after the first stanza and eventually finished fourth.
Irawan was ecstatic to be halfway to his stated career aims of winning both Asian Games and Olympic gold.
“I’m very thankful to my coach and team, also the people where I am from, for supporting me,” Irawan said. “I want to win gold in Tokyo 2020.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB