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Bangkok 2026: China lead the way at Asia-Oceania Open Championships

Wenjun Zhu breaks Asian record as China claim 14 gold medals across six days of competition in Bangkok. Australia, Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Mongolia too win gold medals. 13 Apr 2026
An athlete gestures before attempting a lift
In only her second major international event, Wenjun Zhu of China won gold in the women’s over 86kg category.
ⒸHiroki Nishioka/ WPPO
By Filip Ozbolt l For World Para Powerlifting

Bangkok, Thailand, hosted the WPPO Asia-Oceania Open Championships from 7 to 12 April. With almost 250 athletes from 23 nations, the competition provided six action-packed event days culminating in a 12-hour team events day to cap off the competition.

China dominated the medal tally with 14 golds, six silvers and two bronze medals followed by Australia, Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Mongolia, which were the only five nations to win gold medals in the best lift competitions.

With the Asian Para Games and WPPO World Championships still to come this year, there were no major records broken apart from the Asian record in the women's over 86kg category.

Zhu shatters Asian record

In her first Asia-Oceania Championships appearance, China's Wenjun Zhu won the gold medal with a 158kg lift in her powerlift attempt to break a five-year-old Asian record set by Xuemei Deng in Dubai in June 2021.

It was Zhu's second major event after the Cairo 2025 WPPO World Championships where she also won a medal, that time a silver, only behind Nigeria's Folashade Oluwafemiayo.

Hani Watson of Australia took the bronze in the Open Championships and gold in the Oceania Championships to equal her result from four years ago. The 43-year-old Aussie lifted 140kg in her third attempt, unsuccessfully aiming for the 143kg mark in her powerlift attempt.

"At the end of November 2025, I had major knee surgery. I then started training again in January but unfortunately had to undergo another surgery four weeks ago. That did set me back a bit. But with the right mindset, coach, team and everything else, it just gave me a huge boost here in Bangkok," said Watson.

She was the only Australian athlete to win a medal in the Open Championships but was among seven Aussie gold medal winners in the Oceania Championships.

Apart from Zhu, there were six more gold medallists from China in the women's bodyweight categories. Paralympic champions Zhe Cui and Lingling Guo starred in the women's up to 41kg and 45kg categories with the latter equalling her 125kg world record. Although on the brink of setting a new world record, Guo did not opt to try her luck with the powerlift.

Sijia Chen won in the women's up to 61kg category (130kg lift), Yujiao Tan topped the podium in the up to 73kg category (132kg lift), while Miaoyu Han (140kg lift) and Feifei Zheng (137kg lift) clinched gold medals in the up to 79kg and up to 86kg categories.

"I feel very happy because I had a long vacation before Bangkok. I trained 20 days for this event and lifted 132kg which is enough for me", said the three-time Paralympic champion Yujiao Tan who recently changed categories from the up to 67kg to the up to 73kg.

The transition went smoothly considering that she already won the world title in Cairo and the aforementioned Asia-Oceania Open Championships title.

Uzbekistan's rising stars shine

The other three podiums in the women's competition were topped by athletes from Uzbekistan. Nasiba Tashpulatova won the women's up to 50kg (114kg lift) with Akidakhon Aktamova (126kg) and Rukhshona Uktamova celebrating gold medals in the up to 55kg and the up to 67kg categories.

The 18-year-old Uktamova lifted 131kg to break the Next Gen world record and take the gold medal from her compatriot Kudratoy Toshpulatova with a powerlift attempt. The Paris 2024 Paralympian was overwhelmed by emotions after breaking her own Next Gen world record.

There was more gold medal success for China in the men's events. Another seven first-place finishes were recorded from the Asian powerhouse, with the only categories where they did not win gold being the up to 49kg, up to 107kg and over 107kg categories.

In the absence of former Paralympic champion Omar Qarada, Abdul Hadi of Indonesia topped the podium in the men's up to 49kg category with a 179kg lift, 16kg more than the second-placed veteran Le Van Cong of Vietnam.

"I'm very happy that I was able to compete in Bangkok. My main goal is to achieve the LA28 Paralympic qualification; and I am on the right path. I fixed all my flaws because of which I failed in Cairo and this was my redemption", said Abdul Hadi who won his first regional title in Bangkok.

Eight years after winning his first Asia-Oceania title, former Paralympic champion Sodnompilje Enkhbayar of Mongolia returned to the top of the podium in the men's up to 107kg category.

The 40-year-old athlete recorded all three successful lifts with his last attempt of 236kg being the heaviest lift of the whole competition.

Uzbekistan's Ilkhom Khalimov, also almost in his 40s, won his first Asia-Oceania title in the men's over 107kg category with a 220kg lift. Uzbekistan recorded a gold and a silver in the category with the 19-year-old Jasurbek Yuldoshov finishing only 1kg behind his compatriot with a new Next Gen world record.

Comebacks mark the men's events

Paralympic champions Yi Zou and Panpan Yan topped the podium in the men's up to 65kg and up to 88kg categories. Zou lifted 217kg to return to the top after an appearance to forget at the Cairo 2025 World Championships, while Yan prevailed over Uzbekistan's Bekzod Jamilov by lifting one kg more, 228kg in the last attempt, to be exact.

"I'm very excited. After all, I've won a gold medal. I practised less than usual before the event, but I feel lucky because I faced a tough opponent," emphasised Yan after his victory.

Jinglang Yang won the men's up to 54kg category (189kg); Yongkai Qi (180kg) prevailed in the men's up to 59kg; while Pingkang Zhang (210kg), Xiaofei Gu (227kg) and Jixiong Ye (222kg) won gold in the men's up to 72kg, up to 80kg and up to 97kg categories.

Two-time Paralympic champion from Malaysia, Bonnie Bunyau Gustin, decided to switch from the up to 72kg to the up to 80kg category and settled for the silver with a 199kg lift. He picked up a shoulder injury before the competition and could not reach his full potential.

Host nation Thailand claimed two bronze medals in the women's competition. Paralympic bronze medallist Kamolpan Kraratpet lifted 107kg in the women's up to 55kg category, while Arawan Bootpo lifted two kg more to take bronze in the up to 79kg category.

Out of the four nations competing in the Open Championships (Venezuela, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), two of them won medals in the best lift competitions.

Paralympic champion Clara Fuentes Monasterio of Venezuela lifted 120kg to win the women's up to 50kg category, while Herbert Aceituno of El Salvador finished third (187kg) in the men's up to 54kg.

In an action-packed team events competition on the last day in Bangkok, China took gold medals in all three of them. The men's team defeated Uzbekistan in the final, while mixed and women’s teams both met with team Indonesia in the final matchup.

Jinglang Yang contributed to both the mixed and men’s team event gold medals for China.

Full results and the medal table from the Bangkok 2026 Asia-Oceania Open Championships are available on the link, while the action can be relived through the Paralympic Games YouTube channel.



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