North Korean weightlifter Om Yun-chol claimed his country's first gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games here on Saturday in a record-breaking fashion.

Om broke his own world record with a lift of 170㎏ in the clean and jerk. He also hoisted 128㎏ in the snatch earlier for an Asian Games record total of 298㎏ at the Moonlight Festival Garden Weightlifting Venue in the western port city.

Om, 22, had lifted 169㎏ during the Asian Senior Interclub Weightlifting Championship held in Pyongyang last year.

This is the first career Asiad gold for Om, but the results were very much anticipated by many for the 2012 Olympic gold medalist and the 2013 world champ.

Thach Kim Tuan from Vietnam came up short after lifting 294㎏ in total and won the silver, but was able to set a record for the Asian Games by snatching 134㎏, which is also the highest score among all Asian athletes within his division.

China's Wu Jingbiao ended in third place by lifting a total of 288㎏.

A crowd of South Korean fans sat in the bleachers and cheered for the North Korean athlete, holding together a sign that read "Om Yun-chol is the best" in Korean, while shouting out his name and the phrase "We are one," to their northern neighbor.

More than 10 officials from the North Korean delegation were also seen in the stands wearing matching sweatsuits of red and white, waving the communist country's national flag to cheer for their team member.

North Korea has sent 150 athletes to compete in 14 sports in the 17th Asian Games. The country had never before finished outside the top 10 at an Asiad since it first participated in the competition in 1974, but it has been lagging in the two previous Asiads in 2010 and 2006, during which it finished 13th and 16th, respectively. (Yonhap)


[Photo Credit: Yonhap]