Jiang Huihua secured the 1st place at the Weightlifting Championships in Qatar (2023 IWF Grand Prix II)

On the second day of the 2023 IWF Grand Prix II in Doha (QAT), Jiang Huihua was named the big winner in the 49 kg women’s category. She had a career-best total that led to her being able to sing her national anthem in front of a cheering crowd.

This win doesn’t come as a surprise, seeing that Jiang has been leading the Olympic ranking for this category all year. However, there was some doubt she could get this kind of result, seeing that just two months ago, she was beaten into second place by Ri Song Rum, who set two records of her own at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. 

However, in Doha, Jiang was able to completely turn the tables on Ri, making all six attempts and finishing with 96 kg in Snatch and 120 kg in Clean & Jerk and a total of 216 kg.

On the other hand, Ri failed twice on her clean and jerk attempts and made 93-120 and a total of 213 kg, which gave her second place ahead of the other Chinese competitor, Olympic champion Hou Zhihui. 

After receiving her medal, Jiang had very few comments for the media, only saying: “I was very excited to stand on the podium, to see our flag and sing our anthem. DPRK did perform very well at the Asian Games. Since then, we have prepared really well, worked very hard, and encouraged each other.” 

More About Jiang Huihua

Born in 1998, Jiang Huihua is a Chinese Weightlifter with a pretty illustrious career. She was crowned champion in the Junior championship in 2015, and she has managed to back that title as a senior competitor as well. In fact, Jiang Huihua has won the World Championship in the 49 kg category for over three years now, recording three consecutive wins in Pattaya, Bogota and Riyadh.

She also managed to equal the world record for this weight class after it was set during the Asian Games by her direct competitor from the DPRK, Ri Song Rum. 

After the end of the competition in Doha this week, the next stop for the gold medalist and her teammates is the Asian Championship and Olympic Games in Paris next year, where a showdown against the DPRK will be expected again. 

If you would like to see the way the competition day for the women went down, then you can watch our video that highlights all the key moments, as well as Jiang’s win. Finally, our coverage of the World Cup in Doha will continue until the end of the competition, and you can track all the results and live.