Strongman Yang Zhe gifted China their first gold medal in men's 105kg weightlifting in 12 years at the Guangzhou Asiad here on Friday.

The 19-year-old Yang snatched 185kg and jerked 217kg to earn a winning total of 402kg, followed by Efremov Ivan of Uzbekistan at 400kg. Istomin Sergey of Kazakhstan settled for the bronze at 396kg.

China didn't win gold in the last two Asiad in heavyweight weightlifting after Cui Wenhua won the men's 105kg at Bangkok Asiad in 1998, a huge gap comparing with its traditional strengths of light and middleweight, where the country gained four golds and one silver at the Beijing Olympics.

"Now my aim is the world champion. I will fight for the London Olympics," said Yang with a smile.

Talking the performance of Yang, his coach Wang Guoxin said that "his style is similar to Cui, who is very hard-working. But frankly speaking, he is not as powerful as Cui".

Yang took a 3kg-lead by snatching 185kg. In the clean and jerk he failed at 219kg before lifting 217kg. As Ivan and Sergey failed at 223kg after jerking 218kg and 216kg respectively, Yang secured the gold.

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