Will PRK continue to dominate the middle and heavyweights?

With China absent from the Asian Championships, it was predictable that North Korea would dominate the lightweights, but no one expected total domination over the first three days. Seven gold medals out of seven, but will this be the end of its dominance? Ri Suk is the main contender for gold in the women's 64kg category.

She holds the junior world records in the snatch, clean and jerk and total, and the senior world record in the clean and jerk. Ri Chong Song will be competing for gold in the men's - 81 kg category. Song Guk Hyang (71kg) and Jong Chun Hui (76kg) can add to the PRK women's dominance as they have the best preliminaries in their weight classes. If these four athletes manage to win gold, it will be a perfect championship for North Korea.

Will Akbar Djuraev make a triumphant return to the Olympic weight class?

The IWF's decision to remove the 109 kg category from the Olympic Games was a huge blow for three strong athletes: Tokyo 2020 champion Akbar Djuraev (Uzbekistan), two-time Olympic runner-up and total world record holder Simon Maritorsyan (Armenia) and Rio 2016 champion Ruslan Nurudinov (Uzbekistan). 

These three were set for epic battles at the World Championships, but after the IWF decision it was clear that they would struggle to move down to 102 kg. Djuraev and Martirosyan moved up to +109kg and as Simon became one of the top athletes, Djuraev struggled and eventually moved back down to 109kg.

Djuraev won the World Championships in 2023, finished second at the Asian Games in the 109 kg category, but decided to drop down to +102kg in the Olympic year. Will this be justified or not? The first answer will be given at the Asian Championships in 2024. 

He has the highest qualifying weight and his main Asian opponent, Qatar's Fares Elbakh, is unlikely to compete in Tashkent as he has only entered to confirm his participation in the Olympic qualifiers. So Djuraev is the main contender to win the Asian Championships, but the most interesting question is what kind of total he will have in Tashkent.

Will Gor Minasyan continue to set records?

Former Armenian and Rio 2016 silver medallist Gor Minasyan has been dominating the Asian competitions since 2022, when he began representing Bahrain. He won the Asian Championships in 2023 with three records and an impressive snatch of 217 kg, the second best snatch in history behind Lasha Talakhadze.

Minasyan had an unsuccessful attempt at 220 kg at the World Championships in 2023, but perhaps we will see more attempts at this weight in Tashkent. Gor's main rival in Asia, Iran's Ali Davoudi, will miss the tournament and Minasyan will be free of pressure.