Alongside bronze in the double event, Avdeev has also won a small bronze medal in the snatch, having lifted 215kg. Overall in the double events, the gold went to Russian David Bedzhanyan, 23, and silver to Russian Maxim Sheiko.
Avdeev’s medal has been the only award for the Belarusian team at the current European Championship. However, Belarus’ national team lacked its leaders: Anastasia Novikova, Andrey Aryamnov and Andrey Rybakov. Each already has a place at the Olympics, so is now training in line with their individual schedules.
Our Belarusian weightlifters could have perhaps done better, as our girls were close to awards in two weight categories. Moreover, just one kilogramme separated 18 year old Yelena Chichkan (under 53kg) and Lyudmila Bril (under 63kg) from medals. Chichkan showed the same result in the clean & jerk as Turkish Aylin Dasdelen and Russian Svetlana Cheremshanova — 201kg — but, due to her lesser weight, was awarded a small silver medal. Lyudmila Bril also claimed a small silver medal in the clean & jerk, due to her lesser weight.
