2024 AWC Day 6. North Korea finish with a perfect score, chances for others © Getty Images

Jong Chun Hui was the last North Korean weightlifter to step onto the platform at the Yunusabad Sports Complex in Tashkent at the 2024 Asian Weightlifting Championships. The other 10 North Koreans won gold medals over the first five days of the competition.

North Korea's Jong Chun Hui won with a total of 236 kg (111+125) and brought the 11th and last gold medal for the North Korean national team. The PRK team remained perfect throughout the competition, winning 11 gold medals in total, 10 gold and one silver in the snatch and 11 gold in the clean and jerk. 

Tatiana Melnichenko finished second in the snatch (97 kg) and third in the total (219 kg). Tugs-Erdene Otgonchimeg of Mongolia won bronze in the snatch but failed to make the podium in the total. Iran's Razzaghi Elaheh took silver in the total with her final attempt of 124 kg on the bar. She also finished second in the clean and jerk. 

With the North Koreans out of the competition, other national teams finally got the chance to compete for gold. Iran won the first gold medal of the tournament early in the morning when Ali Alipour finished second in the snatch with 163 kg, four kilos behind the Uzbek Sarvarbek Zafarjonov. With a total of 200 kg in the clean and jerk and 363 kg in the total, Arpour became Asian champion in the men's 89 kg category.

He also finished second in the clean and jerk. Zafarjonov finished with a silver medal. Emil Moldodosov of Kyrgyzstan was third in the snatch (162 kg) and the total (352 kg). Meng-En Hsieh from the Republic of Korea was only 10th in the snatch, but won the gold medal in the clean and jerk with a total of 201 kg.

Another Korean, Jong-Beom Won, was first in the men's 96 kg category (162-205-367). Sunnatilla Usarov of Uzbekistan was second (161-185-346). Nursultan Tarmalov of Kyrgyzstan was only fourth in the snatch but took bronze in the clean and jerk and total (149-184-333). Kirill Staroverkin of Kazakhstan was third in the snatch (150 kg). In the women's 81 kg category, 4 out of 8 lifters failed to achieve a total.

Among them was Anamjan Rustamova of Turkmenistan, bronze medallist in the snatch (105 kg). Korea's Suh-Yeon Kim took first place (110-144-254). Her compatriot Iseul Kim was third in the clean and jerk (133 kg) and total (238 kg). Rigina Adashbaeva took the third silver medal of the day for Uzbekistan (107-136-243).

On day seven, home favourite and Tokyo 2020 champion Akbar Djuraev will compete in the men's -102 kg category.