The opening ceremony of the 2020 China's Men's Weightlifting National Championships is held in Kaihua on Oct 22. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

The 2020 China's Men's Weightlifting National Championships was launched to great fanfare on Oct 22 in Kaihua county – administered by the city of Quzhou in East China's Zhejiang province – according to the organizers.

The four-day event attracted 283 athletes from 33 teams across the country, competing for the snatch, clean and jerk and overall titles in 10 categories.

Nine national records -- three of which beat world records -- were shattered during the championships, prompting Yu Jie, the national team coach, to describe the results as "ideal".

Yang Zhe from Shandong province swept up three golds in the snatch, clean and jerk and overall in the 109 kilogram category, as the national men's weightlifting national championships concluded on Oct 25 in Quzhou.

"The performance of the athletes was well beyond my expectations," Coach Yu Jie said.

"Training behind closed doors for 10 months without competition, they did well in terms of success and results," Yu added.

Yang Zhe, who finished fourth in the 105 kg at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, will now compete in the 109 kg category, after changes were made to the competition categories.

On Oct 25, he improved his own national snatch record to 198 kg and also set a total record of lifting 421 kg after securing gold with a 223 kg lift in the clean and jerk, although he failed in a bid to break the 227 kg barrier.

The event was the highest-level men's weightlifting competition in China in 2020. The organizers said that all the competitions were conducted in accordance with the procedures of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.