Asian Games: Iran's Moradi breaks weightlifting snatch record

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Iranian Olympic champion Sohrab Moradi broke the world snatch record in the men’s 94kg weightlifting event at the Asian Games on Saturday.

Moradi, who won gold at Rio two years ago, set new world marks for clean and jerk (233kg) and total weight (417kg) at the world championships in Anaheim last year and now has all three records in the category under his name.

The 29-year-old, who served a two-year doping ban from 2013 after testing positive for methadone, hoisted 189kg above his head on Saturday to improve on the 188kg Greece’s Akakios Kakiasvilis lifted in 1999.

After lifting 182kg on his first attempt, Moradi increased the weight to 189kg but initially failed before succeeding on his third attempt to snare the record.