The 29-year-old Iranian athlete broke the world record in snatch by lifting 189kg in his third attempt.
In clean and jerk, Moradi conquered 221kg in his first attempt and secured his gold medal. Then he had the chance to set a new record in the total of his weight category. He chose 234kg but failed in both of his next attempts.
In total, he hoisted 410kg and claimed the title while Qatar’s Fares Elbakh and Thailand’s Sarat Sumpradit stood next with 381kg and 380kg respectively.
“I tried my best to break the world record,” he said after the gaining the gold, adding, “I had lifted all these weights [in clean and jerk] in the training sessions but unfortunately I couldn’t raise them here. But that is not a problem. The world record of clean and jerk is still being held by myself.”
Kianoush Rostami, 2016 Olympics champion in 85kg, also participated in the event at the 94kg category. He lifted 175kg in his second attempt of snatch, however, in clean and jerk, he failed to raise 218kg and 220kg in all three moves and missed the chance of any medal.
The 2018 Asian Games officially kicked off on August 18 in Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang and will wrap up on September 2.
Earning 13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals, Iran is currently ranked 4th in the medal table of the competitions.
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