VANCOUVER (British Columbia) Nov 23: Hossein Reza Zadeh of Iran won the over-105 kilogram class at the World Weightlifting Championships for the second straight year, hoisting 457.5 kilograms .

Reza Zadeh, who weighs 127.44 kilograms, attempted to break his world record of 472.5 kilograms on his second last lift.

Three-time junior world champion Artem Udachin of Ukraine won the silver medal and Velichko Cholakov of Bulgaria took the bronze.

Six men lifted between 200 and 210 kilograms in the snatch.

Jaber Salem of Qatar, a native Bulgarian, won the snatch but an injury forced him to withdraw before the clean and jerk. Salem, also known as Yani Marchokov, won in 2001 and was second in 1999.

Four-time world champion Ronny Weller of Germany, who could become the first weightlifter to compete in five Olympics, withdrew with back pain.

Evengy Chigishev of Russia, still not fully recovered from a knife attack in 2001, finished fourth in the snatch and made his opening clean and jerk, but had to withdraw and finished 10th.

Weights in the clean and jerk ranged from Chigishev’s 115.68 kilograms to Armenian Ashot Danielyan’s 160 kilograms.

The United States, which finished the nine-day championships without a medal, did not qualify for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.—AP