Two Chinese Weightlifters drop out
China beleaguered Olympic team suffered another setback on Monday with the withdrawal of a world record-setting weightlifter and his former world champion teammate due to injuries, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The withdrawal of medal hopefuls Shi Zhiyong and Cui Wenhua from the men's event beginning on Sunday follows the dramatic axing of 27 athletes from China's Olympic squad last week due to injuries, sickness or "suspicious" blood tests.
Shi, world record holder in the 62 kilogram class, injured himself just a few days before the team arrived in Sydney last week, Xinhua quoted weightlifting team leader Wei Di as saying.
Shi, 20, snatched a world record 152.5 kg at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Japan in May, breaking his own mark of 147.5 kg set last year in Greece, it said.Cui, winner of the 108 kg class at the 1997 World Championships, quit the Olympic Games due to injuries to his feet, Xinhua said. He was scheduled to compete in the 105 kg event in the Sydney Games.In Sofia, the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation said Zlatan Vanev, Bulgaria's world champion in the men's 77 kg, would not be competing in the Sydney Games because of an elbow injury.The 23-year-old Vanev, who holds the world jerk record of 207.5 kg, won world titles in 1997 at Chiang Mai, Thailand, and in 1998 in Lahti, Finland.
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