Thailand added three more golds to their medal haul at the 2018 world weightlifting championships in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, yesterday.
Twenty-four hours after Thunya Sukcharoen's sweeping success in the women's 45kg division, surprise package Chayuttra Pramongkhol picked up the clean and jerk and total gold medals with Olympic champion Sopita Tanasan claiming the snatch gold in the women's 49kg event yesterday.
In clean and jerk, Chayuttra, who came out last, successfully made lifts of 115kg and 120kg and walked away with the gold without having to make the third lift. She also got her second title of the night for her total of 209kg following a 87kg heave in snatch.
Sopita, the gold medal winner in the 48kg division at the 2016 Rio Olympics, lifted 93kg in snatch, staving off challenges from Chinese lifters Hou Zhihui and Jiang Huihua, who had to settle for second and third places respectively.
However, Sopita suffered a knee injury while trying to lift 108kg on her second attempt in clean and jerk, which also prevented her from going for her planned third attempt at 109kg.
The snatch gold was a welcome relief for Sopita, who had a disappointing Asian Games in Indonesia a few months ago. She finished empty-handed in the 53kg division despite her pre-tournament favourite status.
Thunya kicked off the Kingdom's campaign in impressive style on Friday.
Thunya, who also won a gold medal at last year's world championships, dominated the women's 45kg division with the golden treble.
She lifted 80kg in snatch, 106kg in clean and jerk for a 186kg total, comfortably beating compatriot Chiraphan Nanthawong, this year's junior world champion.
Chiraphan took home three silvers after she lifted 76kg in snatch and managed 95kg in clean and jerk for a 171kg total.
"I feel exhausted but relieved. It was my first time in this new weight category, and I had to shed a lot of weight to fit in, but my hard work paid off," said Thunya.
In the men's 55kg category, Teerapat Chomchuen failed in his three attempts on 105kg in snatch, but the 17-year-old from Si Sa Ket, who holds a record at the youth world championships, bounced back to win the clean and jerk bronze with a lift of 141kg.
The Ashgabat championships end on Saturday.
