Athletes from the Philippines and Thailand added continental titles to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Youth Championships gold medals they won in Durres, Albania, in March.

Iran and Saudi Arabia had women on the podium, and the top-rated individual performer across the age ranges, 17-year-old Anamjan Rustamova from Turkmenistan, was within a few kilos of a world record.

It was the second major international competition successfully hosted by India within a few weeks, after the Commonwealth Championships.

Before the lifting started the Asian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) signed a significant $200,000 (£156,000/€181,000) sponsorship deal with Nelco, an Indian barbell manufacturer which already supplies training and competition equipment to World Athletics.

The money will help the AWF to develop weightlifting throughout Asia and will be directed towards "those countries that most need it to help grow the sport", said AWF general secretary Mohammed Alharbi.

Two AWF seminars will be held each year, for coaches and referees, with direct funding from the partnership, which covers four years and may become longer-term.

The seminars will also help in development throughout Asia, said Alharbi, from Saudi Arabia, who is seeking further commercial partnerships "to open doors for companies into our growing sport".

Nelco has been based in Meerut, which like Greater Noida is in the state of Uttar Pradesh, since the middle of last century.

Its annual turnover is in the hundreds of millions of dollars and it will make a presentation to the IWF Board in September at the World Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia seeking approval from the global body as an equipment supplier.

The AWF already has a $500,000 (£391,000/€453,000) partnership with ZKC, the Chinese barbell company, which was agreed earlier this year.

Alharbi and Nelco’s general manager Varun Anand were joined at the signing of the partnership by AWF President Yousef Al Mana, IWF President Mohamed Jalood, who is the AWF’s first vice-president, and Indian Weightlifting Federation President Sahdev Yadav.

Another move in the AWF’s efforts to rebrand, modernise and grow was the creation of a Gender Equity Commission which will be chaired by Naylah Al Meer from Bahrain, with Yadav’s wife Sabina as vice-chair.

The name Yadav featured again once the competition started, when Gyaneshwari Yadav - no relation - made 78-97-175 for second place in the junior 49kg behind Rosegie Ramos from the Philippines.

Yadav, 20, who had won Commonwealth Championships gold on 176kg three weeks ago, posted the fourth-best effort in the individual juniors classification and the best, on points, by a home nation lifter.

The outstanding performers of the Championships were Rustamova in terms of numbers and Vanessa Sarno from the Philippines for overcoming adversity.

Rustamova, who claimed youth and junior titles at 81kg, came within seven kilograms of the youth world record in making 103-125-228.

She had bombed out in Albania in March at the IWF World Youth Championships, but this time Rustamova won the youth contest by 50kg, the juniors by 22kg and scored 904 points in the individual classification.

That was 142 more than second-placed Phattharathida Wongsing, the 15-year-old 71kg youth world champion from Thailand who added the continental youth title on 92-120-212. That also gave her second place in the juniors behind Sarno.

Sarno had been in intensive care in a local hospital only two days before she competed, having collapsed with a fever, but she felt well enough to lift and defied doctor’s orders to compete.

"I came here to win, not to rest," she told an interviewer.

The Philippines won 19 gold medals across the age groups to continue a great year for their younger athletes.

The Delos Santos brothers, who both won youth world titles in Albania in March, did it again in Greater Noida.

Prince Keil Delos Santos won a desperately close 49kg contest in which the top three were separated by one kilogram - and the same three finished 1-2-3 in the individual classification.

Delos Santos got there first in making 94-116-210 ahead of his team-mate Eron Borres on 91-119-210, with Bui Minh Dao from Vietnam third on 209kg.

There was a repeat performance for Albert Delos Santos, the 61kg youth world champion, who was out of the medals in the snatch but won on total just as he had done in Albania four months earlier.

He made 110-148-258, which also earned him second place in the Junior Championships.

Turkmenistan’s 45kg youth world champion Ogulshat Amanova was 11kg down on her Albania total and finished third behind Angeline Colonia from the Philippines, who had taken silver at the World Youth Championships.

The Philippines had four of the top nine in the junior individual classification - Rosegie Ramos, Rosejean Ramos, Sarno and Colonia.

Chen Guan-Ling from Chinese Taipei topped the junior women's rankings with her 55kg victory on 83-112-195.

In the absence of strong nations such as China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan, other teams with sizable medal hauls were Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Thailand and Iran.

Three of Iran’s nine golds were won by women, while its male super-heavyweights Taha Nemati Moghaddam and Alireza Esfandiari won the youth and junior titles with totals of 366kg and 384kg respectively.

Vietnam had the top two in the individual men’s classification, 55kg winner Do Tu Tung with a 260kg total worth 664 points, and 67kg champion Tran Minh Tri, who totalled 299kg.

There was a landmark first continental medal for a female lifter from Saudi Arabia.

Layan Alqurashi, 16, was a long way behind the top two in the 81kg youth contest, but only three entered and she was on the podium. Women’s weightlifting did not begin in Saudi Arabia until 2019.