On the eve of the International Day of Neutrality, Rejepbay Rejepov from Turkmenistan won the world weightlifting vice-champion title, taking one gold and two silver medals at the World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia. The 30-year-old Honoured Master of Sports gained this achievement in the under 81 kg category, competing with 29 athletes from 23 countries.
Rejepbay became the silver medallist in the under 77 kg category of the World Championships in Anaheim, United States 5 years ago. He won a gold medal at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2017 and two medals (silver and bronze) at the Asian Championships and performed at the Olympic Games in Japan. He could claim a medal of the Tokyo Olympics, but the judges did not score his third clean and jerk attempt (198 kg). This time, Rejepov repeated his Tokyo result (164 kg) in the snatch.
In Columbia, Rejepbay Rejepov showed the best result in his career that exceeds by 3 kg his two national records in the clean and jerk and the combined total, which are now 202 and 366 kg, respectively. Rejepbay set the record of Turkmenistan in the snatch (166 kg) at the 2018 World Championships in Ashgabat.
