The entry list has been published for the Japan-China-Korea Friendship Tournament – the test event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
This competition, which runs from 6th – 7th July 2019 is a silver-level qualifying competition for the 2020 Olympics. That means it carries a 5% Robi point bonus for those who compete at it.
As the name implies, most of the field is made up of Japanese, Chinese and Korean lifters but there are a few others taking part as well.
The hosts Japan have a squad of ten men and ten women on the entry list, including Toshiki Yamamoto, the Asian Championships bronze medalist and Masanori Miyamoto who hit a 200 clean and jerk in training recently.
China have a packed squad of twelve, including:
- Hou Zhihui –49kg World record holder in snatch and total
- Chen Guiming – 2018 World silver medal
- Deng Wei – four-time world champion and 2016 Olympic champion
- Zhang Wangli 2018 World champion and holder of 71 and 76 world records
- Meng Suping –2016 Olympic champion
- Li Fabin – Asian champion
- Qin Fulin – 2018 World bronze medal
- Chen Lijun – three-time World champion
- Shi Zhiyong –2016 Olympic champion, 2015 and 2018 World champion
- Lu Xiaojun – 2012 Olympic Champion, four-time world champion
- Li Dayin – 2019 Asian champion
- Tian Tao – 2019 Asian champion
- Yang Zhe – 2019 Asian Champion – we could see a snatch world record attempt from him
South Korea are sending ten athletes, including:
- Kang Yoonhee – Asian champion
- Han Junghoon – Asian Championships bronze medallist
Six other international athletes will be making the trip to Tokyo:
- Tatiana Kashirina (Russia) – there should be a good battle for her with Meng Suping
- Ilya Ilyin (Kazakhstan) – apparently lifting up two categories at 109
- Wes Kitts (USA) – He’ll be up against Ilyin in the -109 category
- Rodion Bochkov (Russia) – European bronze this year with a 192 snatch
- Ruslan Albegov (Russia) – with a 460 entry total!
- Anna Van Bellinghen (Belgium)
We’ll be featuring all the news from event on our page about it.
