DOHA, Dec 5: China and Kazakhstan shared the spoils in the first two events the weightlifting competition here Tuesday, with an Asian Games record thrown in.

China opened the day with an easy victory for Cao Lei, who completely outclassed the field in the women's 75kg category.

But the Chinese men's team lost their 100 percent record when Kazakhstan's Vyacheslav Yershov ambushed favourite Li Yong to win gold in the men's 85kg category.

Cao set a new Asian Games record as she destroyed her rivals, taking a massive 10kg lead into the clean and jerk discipline after snatching 120kg on her third attempt.

The 22-year-old world champion, the second lightest competitor in the field of eight, entered the clean and jerk at 141kg after the rest of the field had bombed out.

Showing remarkable poise and strength under the bar, she went on to hoist 152kg for an aggregate of 272kg, beating by 2kg Sun Ruiping's previous benchmark.

Myanmar's Mya Sanda Oo took silver with a total of 250kg, with Kim Soon Hee of South Korea, who finished fourth in this year's world championships, taking bronze 4kg adrift.

In the men's 85kg competition, Yershov was locked in a tough battle with Lu but had his superior snatch skills to thank for victory.—AFP

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