Lopez Takes Two Silvers and Bronze

TDT | Manama

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Teenage weightlifting hope Jhon Esteban Lopez stormed to three medals for Bahrain in Tashkent, taking two silvers and a bronze in the men’s junior 110kg class at the 2026 Asian Youth and Junior Championships.

The 18-year-old lifted 170kg in the snatch for silver, then made 193kg in the clean and jerk to take bronze. His 363kg total brought him a second silver.

Lopez went toe to toe with some of Asia’s strongest young lifters in the 110kg A group, which drew rivals from Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.

He opened the snatch with 165kg, missed his first try at 170kg, then came back to make the weight on his third lift.

Iran’s Farhad Gholizadeh edged him in the snatch with 172kg, leaving Lopez second heading into the clean and jerk.

Lopez then opened at 193kg. The live scoreboard showed that making the lift would put him first, for the time being, in both the clean and jerk and the total.

His three-medal haul adds to a fast-growing record for Bahrain. At last year’s Asian Youth Games in Manama, Lopez won gold in both lifts in the 94kg class, including a 160kg snatch and 186kg clean and jerk.

His 363kg total in Tashkent was 17kg above the 346kg he made in Bahrain last year, even after moving up to the 110kg class.

The championships ran from August 7 to 14 in the Uzbek capital.