Cao Lei of China lifted 255kg in total to win the women's 75kg category gold medal at the Asian Weightlifting Championships on Thursday in Tai'an, eastern China's Sandong province.

The 23-year-old lifted 115 in the snatch and 140kg in the jerk.

Thi Phuong Loan Nguyen of Vietnam took the silver at 227kg. Irina Vlassova of Kazakhstan settled for the bronze at 219kg.

In the snatch, Cao, the Doha Asian Games champion, made three good lifts in her attempts at 110kg, 113kg and 115kg. She finished second in the World Championships 2006 in the snatch.

In the jerk, she hoisted 140kg in her last attempt to win the gold. She won the jerk and total in the World Championships 2006.

"I'm satisfied with this result", said Cao, "I was injured during the winter training, and my injury affected my performance to some degree."

Cao's previous best is 120kg in the snatch and 152kg in the jerk which she made in the Asian Games 2006.

Ma Wenhui, coach of the Chinese woman team, said: "Cao's result is not very good. But she was injured before the competition, so it is quite satisfactory."