Vietnamese bags gold at Weightlifting World Cup

Thanh came out on top in the men's 55 kg snatch event on Monday night. In his first attempt, he lifted 118kg while his competitors, Pang Un-chol of North Korea and Thailand's Chom Chuen Nathawat got 115 and 116kg.

In the second attempt, Thanh continued to get ahead as he lifted 120kg, while Pang and Nathawat succeeded at 118 and 119kg.

The third attempt saw Thanh failing to lift 122kg but his two opponents also failed at 120kg and 121kg. Overall, Thanh won the gold medal in the snatch event, Nathawat claimed silver and Pang got bronze.

In the clean and jerk event, Thanh lifted 148kg to win the bronze medal.

"Snatch is Thanh's strength, so the coaching staff came up with a strategy to give Thanh the ability to compete for the gold medal with two strong opponents from North Korea and Thailand," Nguyen Huy Hung, head of the weightlifting division at Vietnam Sports Administration, told the media.

Also on the second day of the competition, Khong My Phuong (women's 45kg weight class) completed the snatch with a result of 76 kg to win bronze. In the clean and jerk event, Phuong successfully lifted 84kg to bag a silver medal.

The IWF World Cup, taking place March 31 to April 11 in Phuket, Thailand is the final chance for weightlifters to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Paris.

Vietnam sent five athletes to the tournament, two male and three female lifters.